13 Nights of Shocktober: The Exorcist III & Legion (Director's Cut)

 by A.J.

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, for the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some horror movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 6: Sequel Night

“And Jesus said to the man who was possessed 'what is your name?' and he answered, 'Legion, for we are many.'" 

The Exorcist III & The Exorcist III: Legion 

When author William Peter Blatty got the chance to direct an adaptation of his novel Legion, an indirect sequel of sorts to his infamous novel turned horror cinema touchstone, The Exorcist, he made a pretty faithful adaptation, as you might expect. However, unhappy executives at Warner Bros. demanded reshoots, including adding an exorcism and changing the title to The Exorcist III. The final theatrical version was dismissed by audiences at the time and has only recently received a fair reevaluation by cinephiles and horror fans. When I finally saw The Exorcist III last year, I was pleasantly surprised, and chilled, even despite obvious scenes of studio interference. 

In 2016, Shout Factory released a Blu-ray restoration, including a director’s cut with Blatty’s original footage, long thought to be lost. To restore the missing scenes, the director’s cut, titled The Exorcist III: Legion, used footage from VHS copies of the original dailies, so there is a dramatic shift in quality at times. It may not be exactly Blatty’s original version but is closer to his novel. Overall, the two versions are not drastically different, until the climax, even the intensely creepy tone is mostly unchanged. 

George C. Scott plays Lt. Kinderman, a Washington, D.C. detective investigating a series of brutal Christian themed murders. The forensic evidence points to a different killer for each murder but the similarities between the killings point to the infamous Gemini Killer, who was executed years ago on the same night a certain exorcism was performed on a certain girl resulting in the death Father Karras, a Jesuit priest and friend of Lt. Kinderman. The case takes an even stranger turn when Kinderman finds a mysterious patient in a hospital psychiatric ward, Patient X, who claims to be the Gemini Killer and resembles Father Karras (Jason Miller reprising his role from the first film). 

Blatty’s novel is a murder mystery that meditates on theology and good and evil. Both film versions play like a mystery whose solution happens to be supernatural with the theatrical emphasizing the horror aspects and Legion emphasizing the psychological. The ending of the theatrical version doesn’t feel so much tacked on as it feels poorly set up. A priest character added in reshoots is introduced at the beginning and then is forgotten about until the climax when it seems like he shows up out of nowhere. Still, the exorcism sequence makes good use of special effects and bloody, gruesome sights, even if they are out of step with the rest of the movie. The ending of Legion is a low key, almost anticlimactic note that leaves you wondering about Kinderman’s final action. 

Without a doubt the reason to watch either version is for the chilling and frightening performance of Brad Dourif as the Gemini Killer/Patient X, though only Legion contains his full performance. He really steals the whole movie and keeps it from being just another middling sequel. Even though he’s restrained in a straightjacket, Dourif exudes such intensity that he still comes across as a real malevolent danger. These scenes with light pouring though windows of his cell are wonderfully creepy. In one shot Dourif leans back into the shadows and his eyes become glowing red dots. Amongst all of the horror effects and other chilling scenes, his performance, even in its reduced form in the theatrical version, is either movie’s most terrifying element. 

The Exorcist III works as a slow build to a spectacle laden finale and Legion works as an intriguing psychological horror film. The Exorcist III is now widely available on Blu-ray and various streaming services. The director’s cut is only available as a bonus feature of the Blu-ray release for now. Of course, neither version comes anywhere close to the terrifying level of The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin, but both succeed on their own terms.