Exorcist II: The Heretic | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

Here we are spared many of Friedkin's cheap shocks -- the mutilations, the vomiting, the bestiality. But what remains is twaddle.

The dialogue invites hoots of derision and audience catcalls, and director John Boorman strives to be intellectually scary and only succeeds in turning a former shocker into a current piece of shlock.

There had to be a sequel, but did it have to be this desperate concoction, the main thrust of which is that original exorcism wasn't all it was cracked up to be?

Burton, noble enough, had his clerical tongue in his cheek, while Linda Blair was by turn fresh and appealing then sly and sinister.

Exorcist number one was nasty twaddle. The Heretic, to give it a slightly different definition, is nasty drivel. With it, the Hollywood superstition bonanza surely reaches rock bottom.