The horror behind the horror film….
So whilst the Exorcist is generally regarded as possibly the greats if not scariest horror film ever made its sequel, Exorcist II : The Heretic, is generally regarded as one of the, if not THE worst sequel ever made. What is all the more surprising is that John Boorman directed it. Well now there’s news about an Exorcist 2 documentary that goes behind the scenes and looks at the disastrous sequel. Titled ‘Boorman and the Devil’ the documentary takes a look at the 1977 follow up that was a commercial and critical failure but has gone on to earn cult status although more out of curiosity than anything else.
The Exorcist 2 documentary…
The documentary directed and produced by David Kittredge was first shown at the Venice Film Festival in 2025 to much acclaim who said, ‘I miss big, ambitious filmmaking that takes huge risks. In 1977, John Boorman took an enormous creative and commercial swing with The Heretic which didn’t connect with almost anybody at the time—but now we can look back and appreciate how big creative swings are what going to the movies is all about. Boorman is one of the greatest filmmakers that has ever stepped behind a camera, and I’m so happy to be telling the story of the one film that not only nearly destroyed him, but forever changed the way he made films’
The contributors….
Amazingly Kittredge has persuaded Boorman, as well as Linda Blair, Louise Fletcher, Joe Dante, Mike Flanagan, and Karyn Kusama to take part in the film. Critic Pete Hammond has called it, ‘easily one of the best movies about the making — and unmaking — of a movie I have ever seen!
Some of what went on…..
Now we’re pretty clued up on the what went on behind the scenes having written a huge magazine feature some years ago and it’s an extraordinary what went on. Boorman himself was hospitalized making the film and audiences openly laughed at it when it was screened are just some of the many stories.
No release date has been confirmed yet for the Exorcist 2 documentary
related feature : The Exorcist films rated….
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