I remember when I was younger seeing a video ad for The Exorcist III (1990) where the eyes of a Jesus statue slowly opened, which spooked me to no end as an image – now, that moment seemed weird and a bit silly. William Peter Blatty (author of the original Exorcist novel) wrote and directed this film, which is a real mixed bag. Adapting his own pseudo-sequel novel (which was titled Legion), there’s some really effective, creepy sequences such as the elderly woman scuttling on the ceiling or the infamous nurse-in-the-hallway sustained tension jump scare. Brad Dourif is excellent as the serial killer who has possessed the forgotten body of Father Karras from the first film (Jason Miller). George C. Scott is a robust lead, but when he suddenly barks in anger in a scene (in trademark over-the-top George C. Scott acting style), he’s unintentionally scarier than any evil spirit. But then there’s Blatty’s fondness for cute, screwball dialogue and that weird dream sequence where Fabio pops up as a background extra playing an angel. Apparently there was a lot of studio interference to have it more like the first movie with Nicol Williamson popping up as a priest ready for exorcism who is never fully explained or integrated in the plot. An interesting failure with some great moments but also a little bit too goofy (maybe a good thing?).
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