Exorcist III

Exorcist III...1990...110 minutes...R...starring George C. Scott, Jason Miller, Brad Dourif, and Ed Flanders...written for the screen and directed by William Peter Blatty

"I dream of a rose...and of falling down a long flight of stairs...."

Based off of Blatty's own book _Legion_, Exorcist III follows Detective Kinderman as he explores a series of gruesome murders that have haunting echoes from his past. The signature on the killings matches that of a serial killer who died 15 years ago, and as Kinderman follows the leads on the case, he uncovers a dark and almost impossible mystery. The murder is tied into another incident from the past that he was privy to as well, a matter of a certain exorcism....

Since Blatty was heavily involved in this movie, I consider this movie the true sequel to the Exorcist as opposed to Exorcist II: The Heretic...apologies to Linda Blair and Richard Burton, who did their best there. (I may get to that movie at some point, we'll see.) The movie is a fairly faithful adaptation of Blatty's book, although the ending does differ. I read from imdb.com that this incongruity was based on the studios wanting an exorcism in their Exorcist movie. (which does kinda follow, but go figure.) In fact, what detracts from the overall creepiness of the movie is that there are places where you can tell that it was deliberately given some moments to make it more of a big movie.

The first, and most obvious, of these decisions was the involvement of Jason Miller. Not that I disagree in general with having him in the movie, but the Gemini Killer personality that inhabits Karras's body was originally just supposed to be played by Brad Dourif...instead the movie hops bewteen Miller and Dourif in a way that's confusing...especially since the Gemini is predominant in most of the scenes. However, since Jason Miller was in the first Exorcst, I expect that his involvement was partially there to help tie the two movies together.

Second, there are a LOT of orchestrated "audience jump" moments...people popping up suddenly in hopes to startle the viewers. It's awell-known gimmick, and while it's to be expected I found it to be getting a bit old. Mind you, there's one orchestrated moment involving a nurse moving through a hospital hallway which is blocked and executed wonderfully and still gets me even when I know when the scare is coming. Such moments are few, though...I prefer moments they have where a statue in a church looks one way under the normal light but gets hideously warped when the light goes out.

The writing is still a strength in the movie, especially in some of the dialogue, but some things didn't translate well from the first movie. Kinderman talks about how close he was to Father Karras, but in the first movie the two characters share little screen time together and the relationship seems like a stretch. The recut version of The Exorcist helps explain the Kinderman/Dyer relationship much better, though. What I do find interesting is that one of my favorite lines from the novel _The Exorcist_ got transposed into this movie: A possessed Karras tells Father Sunshine, "This time you're going to lose."... something that the demon was supposed to say to Father Merrin in the original.

Overall, the movie isn't nearly as effective as the original but it's a decent movie by itself...it certainly shines in comparison to other of the movies in the Exorcist franchise. Plus, there's a lovely cameo of Samuel L. Jackson early in his career...though his voice must have been dubbed over. As long as you're not expecting "The Exorcist" itself, I think you'll find this movie enjoyable.

I give it 3 autopsy shears out of 5.