Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 8/27/2026 – The great David Lean once told fellow film director John Boorman, “We all make failures. Try not to make a famous one.” Unfortunately, and despite the best intentions of everyone involved, Boorman’s Exorcist II: The Heretic was an expensive and much-publicized flop. But like other notorious box office bombs such as Heaven’s Gate and Showgirls, champions of the film believe this ill-fated Exorcist sequel deserves to be reevaluated.
Filmmaker David Kittredge is one such advocate, and has made a strong case for renewed respect in his documentary Boorman and the Devil, which premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival and begins its theatrical run this weekend. Through interviews with key figures in the making of The Heretic, as well as with filmmakers, historians and critics, Kittredge has created a comprehensive history of both the film and of Boorman’s distinctive career.
The “making of” Exorcist II is a fascinating cinematic journey, a tale of both passion and portents of disaster that fueled and beset the film’s production. Kittredge’s interviews with actors Linda Blair and Louise Fletcher, key crew members, and Boorman himself heart-wrenchingly recall the commitment to making something original, artistic, and wholly separate from the original Exorcist. Equally agonizing, and often amusing, are the tales of woe – from the hubris of a certain writer to the limitations of a key cast member, as well as serious illnesses and injuries that befell cast and crew, scariest of all Boorman himself. (One of my favorite anecdotes is Fletcher and Kitty Winn’s “debate” as to whether or not Pazuzu was real and responsible for these misfortunes.)
The documentary, of course, covers the disastrous release and audiences’ violent reactions to a complex, and/or confounding, film that did not meet their expectations. In archival footage, The Exorcist’s director William Friedkin gleefully recounts a screening in which studio executives were chased out of a movie theater by angry patrons (which does not reflect well on Friedkin, in this reviewer’s opinion).
The documentary ends with the question, “Is Exorcist II: The Heretic a good movie?” The answers from interviewees are as interesting as the film itself and its storied journey. I would echo one response that a swing for the fences, even if it ends in failure, is to be more applauded than the “safe,” mediocre fare often served up by Hollywood. But regardless of the responses on screen and from those of us watching, Kittredge has successfully – and touchingly – redeemed John Boorman and his big swing.
Boorman and the Devil is being distributed in North America by Yellow Veil Pictures. It opens in New York City at Quad Cinema tomorrow, August 28, then expands to Los Angeles and other Alamo Drafthouse screens across the U.S. on September 4.
