Nowadays, sequels are terribly frowned upon. They're infamous for being cheaply made only with the intent to grab money from people with the promise that it'll be just as good as the original. I had purposely skipped The Exorcist II because I had heard that it was laughably bad and not worth watching whatsoever. And initially, I wasn't even going to see this one. But I'm sure glad I did.
George C. Scott plays the protagonist: a detective who's investigating a string of murders that are uncannily similar to the Gemini Killer case; a serial murderer who's victims are killed in grotesque and sinister ways. But there's only one problem: The Gemini killer was supposedly sentenced to death 15 years earlier, so he's left to figure out how he's able to kill again. Without giving anything away about the plot, I will tell you that the Gemini Killer is played by a phenomenal actor who I'm personally a fan of. Brad Dourif appears in only two scenes in this entire film, but damn do they stand out. He is absolutely enthralling. Dourif is able to invoke such rage, ferocity and insanity without coming off as completely over-the-top. He subtly creates a tragic yet terrifying complex of personality traits embodied into a mesmerizing performance. It was an absolute delight to watch him in the film.
Thankfully there are other things to like about this film aside from Dourif's amazing performance. There are several well shot scenes that are just as disturbing as they are compelling. The last act in particular had me on the edge of my seat: it's the most tense I've ever been while watching a film in a long time. With that said, I wouldn't exactly classify it as a "horror" film so much as a suspense/crime drama. But it still has some fairly creepy moments.
However, one thing that disappointed me was George C. Scott's acting in the lead role. Being such a seasoned and well experienced actor at this point in his career, you'd think that he could never give a bad performance. But unfortunately, he does in The Exorcist III. If you looked up "chewing the scenery" in the urban dictionary, I'm almost positive you would find his name there. Scott poorly delivered so many lines that I would actually find myself laughing during some scenes, but for all of the wrong reasons.
Now to be fair, this may be the fault of William Peter Blatty who at best, was an amateur behind the camera. And clearly he was better at writing than he was at directing. He may have given Scott unclear or vague instructions which caused Scott to become confused and just wing it as best he could. Also, I should mention that not all of Scott's scenes are bad, but had a more experienced director been on set, things might have worked out differently. Scott's less than par acting in this film is the reason why I won't give it a higher rating than a 7.
But overall, it's a great film that really exceeded my expectations, especially in the last two acts. It's as good as sequels come and I would recommend it to fans of the original film. One thing that people might find surprising is that it actually ties into the first Exorcist film rather well. I believe it's worth watching for Brad Dourif alone, but there's some additional scenes in the film that are also worth checking out. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but if you keep an open mind this film will definitely shock you.
George C. Scott plays the protagonist: a detective who's investigating a string of murders that are uncannily similar to the Gemini Killer case; a serial murderer who's victims are killed in grotesque and sinister ways. But there's only one problem: The Gemini killer was supposedly sentenced to death 15 years earlier, so he's left to figure out how he's able to kill again. Without giving anything away about the plot, I will tell you that the Gemini Killer is played by a phenomenal actor who I'm personally a fan of. Brad Dourif appears in only two scenes in this entire film, but damn do they stand out. He is absolutely enthralling. Dourif is able to invoke such rage, ferocity and insanity without coming off as completely over-the-top. He subtly creates a tragic yet terrifying complex of personality traits embodied into a mesmerizing performance. It was an absolute delight to watch him in the film.
Thankfully there are other things to like about this film aside from Dourif's amazing performance. There are several well shot scenes that are just as disturbing as they are compelling. The last act in particular had me on the edge of my seat: it's the most tense I've ever been while watching a film in a long time. With that said, I wouldn't exactly classify it as a "horror" film so much as a suspense/crime drama. But it still has some fairly creepy moments.
However, one thing that disappointed me was George C. Scott's acting in the lead role. Being such a seasoned and well experienced actor at this point in his career, you'd think that he could never give a bad performance. But unfortunately, he does in The Exorcist III. If you looked up "chewing the scenery" in the urban dictionary, I'm almost positive you would find his name there. Scott poorly delivered so many lines that I would actually find myself laughing during some scenes, but for all of the wrong reasons.
Now to be fair, this may be the fault of William Peter Blatty who at best, was an amateur behind the camera. And clearly he was better at writing than he was at directing. He may have given Scott unclear or vague instructions which caused Scott to become confused and just wing it as best he could. Also, I should mention that not all of Scott's scenes are bad, but had a more experienced director been on set, things might have worked out differently. Scott's less than par acting in this film is the reason why I won't give it a higher rating than a 7.
But overall, it's a great film that really exceeded my expectations, especially in the last two acts. It's as good as sequels come and I would recommend it to fans of the original film. One thing that people might find surprising is that it actually ties into the first Exorcist film rather well. I believe it's worth watching for Brad Dourif alone, but there's some additional scenes in the film that are also worth checking out. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but if you keep an open mind this film will definitely shock you.