Summary:
A police lieutenant finds a series of murders are linked to a murders done by a famous serial killer more than fifteen years ago.
My Thoughts:
The best part of this movie is when Brad Dourif (“Child’s Play”), confessing to being the Gemini killer, gleefully says, “Child’s play, lieutenant!” I’m not sure if it were intended, but I certainly took it as a reference to Dourif’s killer doll franchise, which, by 1990, had already seen one sequel. It had me in stitches.
Honestly, though, as a whole this movie isn’t that bad; it’s certainly better than the 56% rating it received on Rotten Tomatoes, but I think there’s a reason for that. A lot of times, horror sequels get sort of a tarnished reputation before they even hit theaters (“Paranormal Activity 3” was okay!). Horror is already the ugly stepchild of the genres when looked at by critics. Often times, movies that I, personally, would consider completely watchable, if not decent, are completely lambasted by some critics for a few less impressive minor details (just this year I watched “The Limehouse Golem”, “Dog Soliders”, “Splinter” and I would put all of those would under that category). Yet, while I am rushing to this film’s defense, I will admit that it is far from perfect, and it’s far from the level of quality of “The Exorcist” too, but that shouldn’t be surprising; “The Exorcist” is a classic that has been revered for close to fifty years- few films do have that reputation. Ninety-percent of the time we watch movies, we’re not watching the best movies ever made, we’re watching whatever it is that tickled our fancy that particular day, and while “Exorcist 3” wont ever be remembered as a great or groundbreaking film, it’s perfectly passable as a way to kill a few hours on a dreary Sunday afternoon in October.
“Gracious me, was I raving?”
Lieutenant Kinderman (George C Scott, “Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”) is a police officer in Georgetown. After he begins investigating a series of brutal murders that bear shocking resemblance to the Gemini Killer (Brad Dourif), a killer dead for fifteen years, Kinderman begins to suspect something supernatural might be happening with the case.
So, let’s get some of the really good stuff out of the way first. This film was written and directed by William Peter Blatty, the author of the original Exorcist novel (and screenplay- he won his Oscar for adapting his novel). This movie is based on Blatty’s novel “Legion”, which, from what I’ve read, seems to be only tenuously connected to the story in “The Exorcist”- a few priests know of the priests that performed Regan’s exorcism, and that’s about it. Where this film shines is Blatty’s insistence in taking everything seriously; the characters are better developed than they have any right to be; the story, while not overtly complex, is certainly compelling; and Blatty also isn’t afraid to take risks as far as plot progression or using some rather experimental dream sequences. The dialogue is actually pretty decent too, particularly the monologues by Dourif, which are, at times, quite chilling.
Where Blatty’s writing is pretty good, there are a few scenes where I think he goes a bit too far from a directing standpoint. There’s one shot near the beginning of the film that shows a statue of Jesus opening his eyes and crying blood, and the scene was so heavy-handed that I laughed aloud and considered shutting off the film right then and there (I’m glad I didn’t). There are a couple other choices towards the end of the film, when the actual exorcism happens, where Blatty tended to go a bit too far with some of the special effects. I thought the best stuff in the film was when the demon remained grounded- we hear ethereal grumblings on the fringe of his voice, his eyes are slightly discolored- that sort of thing. When you start throwing people on the ceiling and having their skin melt off, you start to loose me.
I think Brad Dourif really gave his all to this performance; he’s easily the standout. Every time he was on screen I was simply glued to it. Unfortunately, the usually fantastic George C Scott didn’t really seem to care too much about this film, and his performance was pretty uneven throughout. Certainly there were scene where he stood out (some of the stuff with the priest was actually good)- but most of the time it looked like he was just there for the paycheck.
The story of this film isn’t much like “The Exorcist” at all; in fact, this movie reminded me a lot of another film that I saw before this one- “Fallen” with Denzel Washington. Both films revolve around possessed serial killers, and both are told from the perspective of the ones investigating these murders. Both films, in the end, are pretty average bits of cinema- they certainly aren’t great, but they’re both entertaining. I honestly think the storyline is a kind of cool one, and the way that it’s handled is pretty good too- it just fails to really transcend into greatness like the original “Exorcist”.
Verdict:
This is certainly more enjoyable than I expected it to be. I haven’t seen “The Exorcist II: The Heretic” because I’ve repeatedly heard it said that that film is one of the worst sequels ever made (though, for that reason alone, I may eventually check it out), but you don’t need to see II in order to enjoy III. If you like supernatural thrillers with relatively impressive characters and storytelling, and some truly captivating writing, then this film isn’t a bad bet.
Fun Fact: This doesn’t alter the quality of the film at all, but it was one of infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s favorite movies. I’m not really sure if that’s a deterrent or a draw for you, but I certainly found that little tidbit of info to be interesting. HERE is a link to the film being discussed during Dahmer’s trial, if you’d like to see that… Be warned, the discussion is rather graphic.
Review Written By: