Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

Exorcist II: The Heretic

  • 19771977
  • RR
  • 1h 57m
IMDb RATING
3.8/10
25K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
7,158
300
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
Official Trailer
Play trailer1:46
1 Video
62 Photos
Horror
A teenage girl once possessed by a demon finds that it still lurks within her. Meanwhile, a priest investigates the death of the girl's exorcist.A teenage girl once possessed by a demon finds that it still lurks within her. Meanwhile, a priest investigates the death of the girl's exorcist.A teenage girl once possessed by a demon finds that it still lurks within her. Meanwhile, a priest investigates the death of the girl's exorcist.
IMDb RATING
3.8/10
25K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
7,158
300
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Directors
      • John Boorman
      • Rospo Pallenberg(uncredited)
    • Writers
      • William Goodhart
      • William Peter Blatty(based on characters created by)
      • Rospo Pallenberg(uncredited)
    • Stars
      • Richard Burton
      • Linda Blair
      • Louise Fletcher
    Top credits
    • Directors
      • John Boorman
      • Rospo Pallenberg(uncredited)
    • Writers
      • William Goodhart
      • William Peter Blatty(based on characters created by)
      • Rospo Pallenberg(uncredited)
    • Stars
      • Richard Burton
      • Linda Blair
      • Louise Fletcher
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 311User reviews
    • 122Critic reviews
    • 39Metascore
    • Awards
      • 3 nominations

    Videos1

    Exorcist II: The Heretic
    Trailer 1:46
    Exorcist II: The Heretic

    Photos62

    "Exorcist" Max Von Sydow & Linda Blair 1973 Warner
    Richard Burton and Linda Blair in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
    Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
    Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
    The Exorcist (1973)
    Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
    The Exorcist (1973)
    Linda Blair in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
    Linda Blair in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
    Linda Blair in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
    Linda Blair in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
    Richard Burton in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Richard Burton
    Richard Burton
    • Father Philip Lamont
    Linda Blair
    Linda Blair
    • Regan MacNeil
    Louise Fletcher
    Louise Fletcher
    • Dr. Gene Tuskin
    Max von Sydow
    Max von Sydow
    • Father Merrin
    Kitty Winn
    Kitty Winn
    • Sharon Spencer
    Paul Henreid
    Paul Henreid
    • The Cardinal
    James Earl Jones
    James Earl Jones
    • Older Kokumo
    Ned Beatty
    Ned Beatty
    • Edwards
    Belinda Beatty
    Belinda Beatty
    • Liz
    • (as Belinha Beatty)
    Rose Portillo
    • Spanish Girl
    Barbara Cason
    Barbara Cason
    • Mrs. Phalor
    Tiffany Kinney
    • Deaf Girl
    Joey Green
    • Young Kokumo
    Fiseha Dimetros
    • Young Monk
    Ken Renard
    Ken Renard
    • Abbot
    Hank Garrett
    Hank Garrett
    • Conductor
    Lorry Goldman
    • Accident Victim
    Bill Grant
    • Taxi Driver
    • Directors
      • John Boorman
      • Rospo Pallenberg(uncredited)
    • Writers
      • William Goodhart
      • William Peter Blatty(based on characters created by) (uncredited)
      • Rospo Pallenberg(uncredited)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Signal
    8.3
    Signal
    The Exorcist III
    6.4
    The Exorcist III
    American Beach House
    2.6
    American Beach House
    Bikini Model Academy
    2.3
    Bikini Model Academy
    Entity Project
    4.5
    Entity Project
    The Killer
    6.0
    The Killer
    The Sound and the Fury
    4.9
    The Sound and the Fury
    Exorcist: The Beginning
    5.1
    Exorcist: The Beginning
    Zombitopia
    3.5
    Zombitopia
    The Lurker
    3.3
    The Lurker
    Udumba
    8.9
    Udumba
    Living Dark: The Story of Ted the Caver
    5.2
    Living Dark: The Story of Ted the Caver

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The original cast and crew of The Exorcist (1973) were very much opposed to a sequel. William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty actually met to discuss ideas at one point, but when they failed to develop a suitable premise, they abandoned the project. Both Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn turned down repeated offers by the studio, though Blair eventually agreed to return when presented with what she considered a good script. However, according to Blair, due to various rewrites the script ended up a total mess. By that point, however, she was contractually bound to a sequel, and unable to drop out of the project.
    • Goofs
      The institution where Regan receives treatment has glass offices in which you can see the patients and their counselors with the only privacy being offered is by audio. Glass rooms in actual institutions usually have blinds/ curtains to provide visual privacy.
    • Quotes

      Regan MacNeil: What's the matter with you?

      Sandra Phalor: [hesitant, stuttering] I'm autistic.

      Regan MacNeil: How do you mean?

      Sandra Phalor: I'm withdrawn. I can't talk.

      Regan MacNeil: But you're talking now.

      Sandra Phalor: [shakes head no]

      Regan MacNeil: Yes, you are. I can hear you.

      Sandra Phalor: You can hear me?

      Regan MacNeil: Sure!

      Sandra Phalor: [pause] What's the matter with you?

      Regan MacNeil: I was possessed by a demon. Oh, it's okay. He's gone!

    • Crazy credits
      Tap Dance Routine Choreographed by Daniel Joseph Giaghi
    • Alternate versions
      Exorcist 2 exists in at least three versions. The original version was 117 minutes long and was recut by director John Boorman the day after the premiere into a 110 minutes version, the one released theatrically. Major differences include the addition of a recap of the events of the first film through narration and freeze frame. Using stock shots of Linda Blair from the first film for the climax (all new shots of Regan possessed were done by a double because Linda Blair refused to have the possession makeup done on her again) and an alternate ending where Richard Burton's character is killed (In the original version, he runs off with Regan to help her be a force of good). The European version is also purported to be different. For a long time, only the recut version of Exorcist 2 was available for TV, cable and on video. Recently, the original 117-minutes cut has found its way to video and recent TNT airings.
    • Connections
      Featured in Science Fiction Film Awards (1978)
    • Soundtracks
      Lullaby of Broadway
      (uncredited)

      Music by Harry Warren

      Played on the saxophone while Regan is tap dancing

    User reviews311

    Review
    Top review
    10/10 ***** "Does great goodness draw evil upon itself?"
    William Peter Blatty, author of THE EXORCIST, based the character of Father Lankester Merrin on the Jesuit scholar Teilhard de Chardin. In books such as "The Phenomenon of Man", de Chardin theorized a metaphysical concept he called the World Mind, an interpretation of Christian mysticism which sees all minds as joined and gradually evolving into a full awareness of Being as a single consciousness akin to the New Thought idea of Christ Consciousness--the "only begotten" extension of Universal Consciousness, or God. This idea, a synthesis of Christian and Asian religious concepts, is resonant with many unorthodox spiritual teachings from Theosophy to the psychology of Carl Jung. After de Chardin's death his papers were suppressed by the Vatican and his work was investigated on charges of heresy (his ideas being heretical by the standards of the Catholic Church.)

    When Blatty declined to write Warner Bros.' sequel, John Boorman and his creative associate Rospo Pallenberg developed an original script from a treatment by playwright William Goodhart, the credited screenwriter. Boorman accepted the project as a means to artistically express metaphysical ideas in which he was absorbed. The link to Teilhard De Chardin provided an ideal venue. The story of Father Lamont's spiritual odyssey is specifically a meditation on the Grail Quest theme, derived from Celtic mysticism and Arthurian legend, which underlie a thematically-related sequence in Boorman's early work: DELIVERANCE, ZARDOZ, EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, Excalibur and THE EMERALD FOREST, comprising an important cinematic exploration of the Quest as Initiatory path.

    In EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC, the late Father Merrin's reputation has fallen into disrepute and Father Lamont (Richard Burton), suffering a crisis of faith, is ordered by the Cardinal to investigate "the circumstances surrounding the death of Father Merrin" and the legitimacy of the exorcism before Merrin's papers (his life's work) can be released.

    The title character of THE EXORCIST was that of Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow); this role then passed to the younger priest, Father Karras (Jason Miller). Just so, the heretic in EXORCIST II is initially Merrin until, through young Regan (Linda Blair), Father Lamont makes contact with the mind of Merrin and in that psychic joining shares his vision. Thus Lamont's descent into (and beyond) heresy is an initiatory quest which deepens as he goes against the Church's orders and ultimately calls upon the demon for guidance to the "evil heart" of the mystery.

    In the scene at the Natural History Museum, the attentively listening viewer will discover (in the full 117-minute version) that Father Lamont tells Regan about Teilhard de Chardin and briefly explains the World Mind theory. The science-fictional device called the Synchronizer allows the World Mind concept to be expressed in cinematic images. (Among the many differences between this film and THE HERETIC is that the original's emphasis is strongly verbal whereas THE HERETIC expresses its complex ideas almost entirely in visual and symbolic terms.) A distinction is drawn between the peace and unity of the World Mind and the insanity ("evil") and corruption of its opposite, the ego: a state of separation from consciousness which mimics the One-Mindedness of God or the Universe. In THE HERETIC, this imitation or false Christ is symbolized by Pazuzu, the Babylonian genie and locust god--one of many "heathen" idols demonized in the Judeo-Christian tradition. (The demon was named in Blatty's novel but not in the original film.) Its activity of separation masked as joining is symbolized by the locust swarm which forms a single-mindlessness ("a Locust Mind, if you will") in mockery of Whole (Holy) Consciousness (Spirit). The resulting psychic fragmentation is reflected in the mirror images which permeate the film. Regan represents an evolutionary step toward the "Omega Point", the healing of the separation; a forerunner of Kubrick's Star Child.

    John Boorman's film doesn't spell itself out for the viewer any more than does Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and there is no Arthur C. Clarke novel to "explain it all for us". Boorman intends THE HERETIC to stimulate intelligent and imaginative thought and speculation. Where Kubrick and Clarke's ideas (initially met with great perplexity) have long been sanctioned as worthy of consideration, Boorman's somehow flew over the heads of a viewer-ship which, threatened by the film's non-dualistic subversion of the original's simplistic "good vs. evil" formula, has for thirty years ridiculed a misunderstood artwork. The original mass audience which condemned the film on first release was fresh from making the relatively ghastly Italian EXORCIST imitation Beyond the Door a huge box office success because it gave them what they wanted and only what they wanted: puke, puke and more puke. And so like the swarming locusts, the mundane Philistine mentality endlessly repeats the hypnotic chant: "worst sequel, worst sequel, worst..." There is no actual "Director's Cut" of EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC. The 117-minute Theatrical Version is John Boorman's official cut.

    During the disastrous initial release, Warner Bros. hastily issued instructions to theaters to remove specified sections of the film which had drawn audience hostility, without consulting the director. Under extreme pressure, Boorman subsequently prepared a third, more carefully edited version for the international release. The re-editing rendered a difficult and highly symbolic film incomprehensible to the horror-show expectations of the audience. The most significant deletion was the discussion of Teilhard de Chardin's World Mind theory, the central focus of the film.

    This bastardized version debuted on cable in the United States and for a decade the film was available exclusively in this distorted form. The full-length version, unseen since the early weeks of the initial release, was restored in the late 1980's for home video and is currently available on DVD. Mercifully, the Butcher's Cut has been permanently withdrawn.

    Given his experience with the film, it is unlikely that Boorman would involve himself in a new Director's Cut edition. Given the mindless disrespect shown the film, he seems to have washed his hands of it and its detractors.

    Rating: EXTRAORDINARY.
    helpful•46
    19
    • Doctor_Mabuse1
    • Jan 23, 2009

    FAQ9

    • What is 'Exorcist II: The Heretic' about?
    • Is "Exorcist II: The Heretic" based on a book?
    • What is a heretic?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 17, 1977 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • United Kingdom
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • Exorcist 2: The Heretic
    • Filming locations
      • Kayenta, Arizona, USA
    • Production company
      • Warner Bros.
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $14,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $30,749,142
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $6,735,000
      • Jun 19, 1977
    • Gross worldwide
      • $30,749,142
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 57 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
    Top Gap
    By what name was Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) officially released in India in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    View list
    List
    New & Upcoming Superhero Movies and Series
    See the full list
    View list
    List
    Fall TV Guide: The Best Shows Coming This Year
    See the full list
    View image
    Photos
    Double Take: Celebrity Twins
    See the full list

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Back to top
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more access
    Sign in for more access
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Interest-Based Ads
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2022 by IMDb.com, Inc.