One might imagine that, after the debacle that was The Exorcist II, the franchise would have returned to the head-spinning and vomit spewing of the original, but to writer/director William Peter Blatty's credit, he tries something a little different with The Exorcist III, his film's serial killer plotline more akin to The Silence of the Lambs for much of the time. The nearest the film comes to William Friedkin's 1973 classic is with the brief special effects laden exorcism scene in the final act, which was forced upon Blatty by the film's producers.
The majority of the film sees George C. Scott's cop Kinderman investigating several gruesome murders that mimic the modus operandi of The Gemini Killer, who was executed in the electric chair fifteen years earlier. Kinderman's enquiries lead him to cell eleven of a secure hospital ward where a patient who resembles dead priest Father Damien Karras claims that he is the Gemini Killer, having possessed Karras's body as he died.
Sadly, as original as the majority of this film is, it also proves frustratingly dull for much of the time, with a glut of exposition heavy dialogue, an extremely slow pace, and only one decent scare (the much lauded hospital hallway scene) to keep the viewer from nodding off. As out-of-place as the studio sanctioned exorcism undeniably is, at least it's entertaining, which is more than I can say about George C. Scott's character complaining about a carp in his bath.
The majority of the film sees George C. Scott's cop Kinderman investigating several gruesome murders that mimic the modus operandi of The Gemini Killer, who was executed in the electric chair fifteen years earlier. Kinderman's enquiries lead him to cell eleven of a secure hospital ward where a patient who resembles dead priest Father Damien Karras claims that he is the Gemini Killer, having possessed Karras's body as he died.
Sadly, as original as the majority of this film is, it also proves frustratingly dull for much of the time, with a glut of exposition heavy dialogue, an extremely slow pace, and only one decent scare (the much lauded hospital hallway scene) to keep the viewer from nodding off. As out-of-place as the studio sanctioned exorcism undeniably is, at least it's entertaining, which is more than I can say about George C. Scott's character complaining about a carp in his bath.