A partially remembered video about this movie by Red Letter Media led me to expect that this would be the best of the best of the Exorcist sequels, and in some ways it is, but on the whole I may have cared for it even less then 'The Exorcist 2'. 'The Exorcist III' has the right background, written and directed by 'Exorcist' creator William Peter Blatty, based on his sequel novel 'Legion', it's better then reasonably smart and has strong writerly dialogue. It picks up with the characters of Lt. William F. Kinderman and Father Joseph Dyer (though here played by different actors then in the first film, George C. Scott taking over the Kinderman role from the dead Lee J. Cobb) fifteen years after the events of the first film.
The inciting incidents are a series of murders involving religious imagery staged in the Georgetown area. Theoretically this film could have largely avoided the supernatural elements of the previous movies, focusing instead on a more human kind of evil. However demonic forces have in fact reemerged, and while I was going along with the film in mild interest, owing mostly to the strength of the writing and George C. Scott, it comes to a twist that I found so distasteful, and such a betrayal of the original that this movie completely lost me. I also did not care for Brad Dourif's overlong siliques, which I know the Red Letter Media guys liked. Had this film not been an Exorcist sequel, but simply a stand alone story I probably would have liked it okay, but it's post Exorcist status is why I'm only giving it *1/2.
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