Unraveling 'Exorcist II: The Heretic' - The Quintessential Hollywood Flop

As fans often gather around the thrill of a box office success, they also seem to draw a perverse pleasure from observing film industry misadventures. Movies like Heaven’s Gate, Waterworld, John Carter, and Cats have all had their share of critical pounding and commercial failures, yet disturbingly enough, they haven't failed to amuse the audiences.

Exorcist II: The Heretic, followed the acclaimed horror vendetta, The Exorcist with an expectation to make waves. However, it was met with rejection and laughter upon its release in 1977. The film’s director, John Boorman, and the movie itself have since served as a perfect example of how not to handle sequels.

Yet, the new documentary, Boorman and the Devil, details the tumultuous journey of the film production and rendition, probing the possibility of such flops contributing to artistic freedom within the restrictive commercial film industry.

During the era when sequels were still a novelty in Hollywood, the success of The Exorcist, that earned a staggering $429 million in 1973, paved the way for the making of Exorcist II: The Heretic. The producers left no stone unturned to produce a masterpiece with a massive budget of $15 million, Richard Burton, and thousands of locusts imported from Africa.

Boorman and the Devil delve deep into the trials and tribulations of the project which was initially expected to make headlines. However, the production faced numerous obstacles, including director Boorman's unexpected illness that delayed the shoot and Richard Burton's half-hearted performance.

Once in theaters, the flak wasn’t spared even for the producers with audiences expressing their resentment openly. Despite some critical acclaim and insistence by the director Boorman for its artistic value, the film failed to recover from the initial backlash.

The documentary brings to light some interesting factors of Hollywood history, especially a time when filmmakers like Boorman dared to challenge norms and faced the trials and tribulations in their artistic pursuit.