The Unmaking of EXORCIST II THE HERETIC By Paul Talbot Among the most anticipated movies scheduled for the summer of 1977 was John Boorman’s EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC. But, by the end of that season, disgruntled audience members and angry theater owners would know that sequel as one of the
biggest disappointments of the decade. THE EXORCIST—which told the story of a demon-possessed little girl and her salvation by a pair of Catholic priests—became a cultural phenomenon when it was released in late 1973. It stunned audiences and collected $72 million at US theaters, making it the highest- grossing movie of all time. (JAWS surpassed it in 1975.) Sequels were becoming fashionable and profitable—THE GODFATHER PART II, THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK, AIRPORT 1975 and FUNNY LADY were recent blockbusters—and Warner Bros. announced in August 1975 that they were actively developing THE EXORCIST PART II. After original EXORCIST writer/producer William Peter Blatty and director William Friedkin passed on the follow-up, the studio hired New York playwright William Goodhart (GENERATION), who came up with a strange, metaphysical two-page treatment entitled THE HERETIC. Warners had originally wanted a low- budget ($3 million) schlock-horror cash-in and had offered the sequel to editor-turned-director Sam O’Steen (SPARKLE), but studio executive John Calley was impressed with Goodhart’s ambitious premise and saw the sequel as a potential blockbuster from a major director. The treatment was sent to Oscar-nominee John Boorman (POINT BLANK, DELIVERANCE). Boorman told the press at the time: “I had been involved slightly, back before THE EXORCIST was made. John Calley gave me [Blatty’s] book and asked if I wanted to make the film. I turned it down because I thought that, as a film, it would be rather repulsive, and I was horrified with the idea of the possessed child... I told Calley, ‘Not only will I not make this movie, but I don’t want you to make it, either.’”
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