By MICHAEL GINGOLD
Starring John Boorman, Linda Blair and Louise Fletcher
Written and directed by David Kittredge
Triple Fire Productions
Film history is rife with stories of trouble-beset shoots whose final products turned out remarkably well–JAWS, with its malfunctioning shark, comes immediately to mind. While these triumphant tales can be both entertaining and inspiring, there’s also a particular fascination with the sagas of movies in which the behind-the-scenes problems are all too evident on the screen. Such a case is EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, which at the time of its 1977 release was one of the most eagerly awaited sequels ever, only to be greeted with catastrophic reviews and fast-collapsing box office. So widely and so badly did it stray from what fans and audiences wanted from an EXORCIST follow-up that many were left wondering, “What were they thinking?”
Now comes David Kittredge’s enormously enjoyable documentary BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL to answer that question, and a lot more. An East Coast premiere at last month’s Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, it’s a revealing and sympathetic chronicle that nonetheless doesn’t eschew the more amusingly misguided ambitions and actions of the EXORCIST II team. Foremost among them, as the title indicates, is John Boorman, the British director who by the mid-’70s had helmed the box-office hit and now-classic DELIVERANCE and the cult fave POINT BLANK. He had also turned down the original EXORCIST in favor of the philosophically ambitious and totally nutty 1974 sci-fi odyssey ZARDOZ. That film, best remembered today for the sight of Sean Connery in a red thong, received a disastrous critical/box-office reception that anticipated what was to come after Boorman joined the EXORCIST fold, once director William Friedkin and scripter William Peter Blatty had turned down the chance to return.
Boorman gets extensive time before Kittredge’s camera, recounting his involvement with EXORCIST II in a clear-eyed, thoroughly winning manner as he reflects on both his grand ambitions for the film and the harsh realities of its realization. Rather than craft a blood-and-guts follow-up to the ’73 blockbuster (as was suggested by no less than Stanley Kubrick), he aimed to create more of a spiritual sequel, which was initially to be titled simply THE HERETIC. Original star Ellen Burstyn also refused to take part, though Linda Blair agreed to reprise the role of Regan MacNeil–as long as there was a big payday involved. (Though no one on screen here says so, the clips from Blair’s string of post-EXORCIST TV movies hints she also might have been a little anxious to return to big-screen glory.)
BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL is quite sympathetic to Boorman and co.’s desire to not just create an EXORCIST II that stood on its own, but showcase groundbreaking visual techniques, such as “ghost glass” in-camera visual effects and camerawork taking the point of view of the locusts that are key to the movie’s plot. Yet as recounted by Boorman, Blair, co-star Louise Fletcher (who took a psychiatrist role originally written for a man) and others, all speaking candidly and quite engagingly, the prep and shoot became the definition of Murphy’s Law. Some of the issues were actor-based: Star Richard Burton made the script read-through nearly impossible, and Blair was chronically late to the set. Then there were the on-set snafus, climaxing with a rare illness that felled Boorman to the point that production was shut down for over a month.
Through it all, William Goodhart’s script was being constantly rewritten, with the ending completely overhauled, while the filmmakers raced to meet a predetermined release date. And when that day arrived, the only thing more virulent than the critical reception was the reaction from the audience. One memorable story from an early showing is told by a pair of interviewees, one of them a surprise that exemplifies the deep dive Kittredge has taken here. Similarly, there’s a great anecdote involving the reactions to EXORCIST II’s trailer (one of the few things associated with the film that can be unequivocally praised) and the preview for Friedkin’s competing thriller SORCERER.
Beyond the stars and director, many of the EXORCIST II below-the-line talents are interviewed as well, revealing how they gave their all to the movie and Boorman’s vision for it. They say no one tries to make a bad film, and BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL exemplifies that idea; everyone involved worked hard, at the top of their craft, and the doc is entirely sympathetic to them for it. At the same time, the doc has fun with certain aspects of the project, depicting them via clever animated sequences by Mindbomb Films and Craig Smith. There’s also copious and revelatory behind-the-scenes and making-of footage to support the many recounted anecdotes; among other things, it’s revealed that the rooftop scene with Blair was as dangerous to film as it feels to watch.
The points of view from those who were there are complemented by acute observations from filmmakers such as Karyn Kusama, Joe Dante and Mike Flanagan (who, though it’s not addressed here, has himself been attached to an EXORCIST reboot). Like many a movie reviled in its day, EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC has been reassessed over the years since, and if BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL may not change your mind about it, it will give you new respect for the people who made it.
The doc also illustrates a time when cinema started to veer away from the idiosyncratic adventurousness of the 1960s and the first half of the ’70s to the blockbuster mentality of the post-JAWS/STAR WARS Hollywood landscape. Would EXORCIST II have been better received if, as initially intended, it had been released as just THE HERETIC, without the expectations attached to that popular title? Hard to say, and among other things, BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL serves as a cautionary tale about sequels straying from their predecessors at their peril–a story that’s been told repeatedly since, from HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH to JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX. That’s just one of the ways in which this study of a nearly 50-year-old feature feels relevant and meaningful, and it is indeed heresy that this terrific doc has yet to land distribution. Someone needs to get this movie to a wider audience, and they shouldn’t need the devil to make them do it.
