Boorman and the Devil Comes to UK Blu-ray With a Limited Edition Packed With Extras
One of cinema’s most infamous sequels is getting another day in court, although this time nobody is asking you to sit through it without an explanation. David Kittredge’s acclaimed documentary Boorman and the Devil is making its UK Blu-ray debut on December 7, courtesy of Plumeria Pictures, with a Limited Edition release devoted to the extraordinary story behind John Boorman’s Exorcist II: The Heretic.
The release has already found an audience before reaching shelves. Plumeria Pictures has announced that its first printing sold out pre-publication, while the Blu-ray’s slipcase edition is limited to 1,000 copies. The Region B BD50 contains Kittredge’s 112-minute documentary alongside more than 100 minutes of supplementary material, including over 20 minutes of deleted scenes, making this considerably more than a bare-bones release of the film.
Described by Mark Kermode as “the best film ever made about the worst film ever made,” Boorman and the Devil isn’t simply an exercise in pointing and laughing at a notorious Hollywood disaster. Kittredge goes back to the people involved and examines how a hugely ambitious sequel to one of the most successful horror films ever made ended up becoming one of the most notorious follow-ups in cinema history.
Going Back Inside The Heretic
Following the enormous success of William Friedkin’s The Exorcist in 1973, Warner Bros. inevitably wanted another encounter with demonic forces. Friedkin wasn’t returning to direct, however, and the sequel ultimately landed with John Boorman, who had already established himself through films including Point Blank and Deliverance.
Boorman didn’t attempt to make another version of Friedkin’s film. Exorcist II: The Heretic went in a dramatically different direction, returning to Linda Blair’s Regan MacNeil several years after her possession and introducing Richard Burton’s Father Philip Lamont, a priest investigating the death of Father Merrin. Louise Fletcher joined the film as Dr Gene Tuskin, while Max von Sydow returned as Merrin and James Earl Jones appeared as Kokumo.
Rather than trying to reproduce the intimate religious terror of the original, Boorman pursued something far stranger and more metaphysical. The film ventured into ideas involving consciousness, healing, spirituality and the nature of evil, with Regan undergoing synchronised hypnosis using a device known as the Synchronizer. Locusts became a major part of its imagery, the story travelled far beyond the domestic surroundings associated with the first film, and Ennio Morricone provided an appropriately unconventional score.
Audiences expecting another Exorcist weren’t exactly gentle about the change.
Released in 1977, The Heretic was met with an extraordinarily hostile response and became synonymous with disastrous sequels. Contemporary reaction was severe enough that the film was altered shortly after opening, with a shorter version replacing the original release in cinemas. Although it earned substantial money, its reputation was catastrophic when compared with the phenomenon it had been expected to follow. For decades, Exorcist II has regularly appeared in discussions of the worst sequels and worst major studio films ever made.
Yet that isn’t the entire story, and that’s where Boorman and the Devil becomes interesting.
Was Exorcist II Really Just a Disaster?
Kittredge’s documentary doesn’t need to convince viewers that The Heretic was secretly a flawless masterpiece. Instead, it looks at the ambition behind the film and what happens when a filmmaker is given the opportunity to take an enormous creative swing, only to watch it go spectacularly wrong.
John Boorman participates in the documentary, alongside Linda Blair and the late Louise Fletcher, while filmmakers including Joe Dante, Mike Flanagan and Karyn Kusama contribute to the reassessment. Their involvement allows the documentary to move beyond the easy punchline of “Exorcist II was terrible” and examine the decisions, craftsmanship and intentions that produced something so wildly different from its predecessor.
There is plenty to examine. The production was expensive and difficult, while Boorman’s determination to avoid simply imitating Friedkin resulted in a sequel that barely resembled what audiences expected from the name The Exorcist. The finished film had ambitious production design, cinematography by William A. Fraker, Morricone’s memorable music and some enormous ideas about spirituality and human consciousness. Whether those ingredients ultimately worked together is another matter entirely, but reducing the film to its reputation misses much of what makes its failure so fascinating.
That appears to be part of what has attracted such a strong response to Kittredge’s documentary. Edgar Wright called it “a truly great film about the creative process,” while reviews have praised its combination of humour and genuine sympathy for the people who took the risk. The documentary currently carries a 98% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, according to Plumeria’s announcement.
A Proper Limited Edition Blu-ray
Plumeria Pictures is giving the documentary a substantial physical release. Alongside the feature, the Blu-ray includes an audio commentary with director David Kittredge and 21 minutes of deleted scenes. Further supplements explore casting, direction and the consequences of the production, Boorman’s filmmaking methods, his thoughts on the film industry and the original William Friedkin Exorcist.
Additional material covers the production itself, anecdotes from those involved, and the troubled post-production and reception of The Heretic. English subtitles are included, with the documentary presented on a Region B BD50. The release carries a 15 certificate, with Plumeria noting that artwork and special features remain subject to change.
For horror fans and anyone fascinated by films that went spectacularly off course, Boorman and the Devil has an irresistible subject. Exorcist II: The Heretic has spent almost 50 years being used as shorthand for the sequel nobody wanted. Kittredge’s film asks a considerably more interesting question: what if we stop laughing at it for a couple of hours and actually look at what John Boorman was trying to do?
Boorman and the Devil makes its UK Blu-ray debut on December 7, with the limited slipcase edition restricted to 1,000 copies and available exclusively through Plumeria Pictures. You can order it HERE!
