Boorman’s film reconnects with Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) four years after the events portrayed in THE EXORCIST.
over conventional thinking,” Boorman recalled about Pallenberg. “His real name is Robert. Rospo was a corruption by a mad aunt on the Roman side of his family. It means toad in Ital- ian—a manic insight, for so he looks.” Pallenberg rewrote Goodhart’s HERETIC draft prior to film- ing, revised the pages daily during production, and directed inserts and second unit. He was finally credited as “Creative Associate.” Linda Blair remembered, “They had dis- cussed making a ‘Part Two’ for a long time. They brought me a script that was very good... There were several re-writes. Boorman brought in Pallenberg to work on the script, which I still don’t understand. Pallenberg directed a lot of the film.”
Boorman told THE NEW YORK TIMES during shooting: “It’s a fascinating story dealing with spiritual evolution and the need for God. I in- tend to investigate the characters and ideas more thoroughly and make the story more terrifying and profound. Some people felt that the first EXORCIST was destructive. I think of this one as a healing movie. With each new picture, you’re faced with the problem of trying to find out what
audiences will respond to, of making a connec- tion with them. And audiences do connect with certain stars or a movie based on a best-selling book. Sequels are just another attempt to make this connection.”
EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC had multiple lo- cations, massive interior sets and complex, state- of-the-art camera tricks. The tortuous six-month shoot was plagued with disgruntled cast and crew members, temper tantrums by the direc- tor, laboratory errors, retakes and reshoots, thousands of uncooperative locusts and severe illnesses.
The originally-planned climax was to be an-
other tour-de-force for makeup legend Dick Smith, whose unforgettable work on THE EX- ORCIST was one of the main reasons for that film’s notoriety. The ending was to have Regan enter into the spirit of Father Merrin before con- fronting “the Regan/Demon at its most inhuman stage of possession.” The script then explained that Regan “pulls herself out of Merrin’s form as if molting,” snaps her demonic doppelgänger’s head around, and watches as the creature’s flesh melts off its bones.
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