{"id":721072,"date":"2026-07-31T14:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/721072\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T14:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T14:42:09","slug":"the-boorman-and-the-devil-trailer-peeks-behind-the-scenes-of-the-notorious-exorcist-sequel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/721072\/","title":{"rendered":"The ‘Boorman and the Devil’ Trailer Peeks Behind the Scenes of the Notorious ‘Exorcist’ Sequel"},"content":{"rendered":"

William Friedkin<\/a>\u2018s The Exorcist hit theaters in 1973 and made an impact that changed not just horror movies, but cinema itself. The demonic possession tale is still considered one of the scariest films ever made, and its story continues to inspire\u2014genre master Mike Flanagan\u2019s new take<\/a> on the Exorcist franchise opens in 2027.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean everything associated with The Exorcist has been able to capture its success. Some have: released in 1990, The Exorcist III, written and directed by Exorcist novelist William Peter Blatty, who won an Oscar for scripting Friedkin\u2019s film, is excellent and disturbing and well worth seeking out<\/a>. The dueling Exorcist prequels\u20142004\u2019s Exorcist: The Beginning and 2005\u2019s Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist\u2014offer a fascinating glimpse of how Hollywood\u2019s hunger for do-overs can manifest in freaky ways.<\/p>\n

The Exorcist TV show, which was tangentially tied to the first movie, ran from 2016 to 2017 on Fox and delivered two genuinely spooky seasons.<\/p>\n

But though the less said about 2023\u2019s The Exorcist: Believer, the better, it\u2019s still not the most notorious entry in the Exorcist franchise. That title is absolutely claimed by 1977\u2019s Exorcist II: The Heretic<\/a>, and a new documentary will explore what went wrong with a movie that must have seemed at first to be a surefire slam dunk.<\/p>\n

As the title lets you know, Boorman and the Devil focuses on director John Boorman, who came into the project awash with Oscar nominations for Deliverance. His other credits include Zardoz, Excalibur, and Hope and Glory. But only Exorcist II: The Heretic gets mentioned in \u201cworst movie ever made\u201d conversations.<\/p>\n

The sequel brought back Exorcist child star Linda Blair as a now-teenaged Regan MacNeil, elevated Exorcist supporting player Kitty Winn to the main cast, and somehow convinced Max von Sydow, whose character died in The Exorcist, to return for flashbacks. New additions included Louise Fletcher (who\u2019d just won an Oscar for One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest), Richard Burton, and James Earl Jones (the same year as the first Star Wars movie).<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the success of Point Blank and Deliverance, Warner Brothers offered John Boorman the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to direct a sequel to their smash hit, The Exorcist. The result was one of the biggest disasters in movie history,\u201d reads the documentary\u2019s official synopsis. \u201cA critical and financial failure that not only changed how Hollywood did business but nearly ended Boorman\u2019s filmmaking career\u2026 but to be an artist is to be a risk-taker. Now, John Boorman, Linda Blair, Louise Fletcher, Karyn Kusama, Joe Dante, Mike Flanagan, and more reflect back on the ambition of the film, the artistry and craft, and the value of big creative swings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without Exorcist II, we\u2019d be deprived of one of the greatest howlers in Hollywood history\u2014\u201dCome, fly the teeth of the wind. Share my wings!\u201d\u2014and Ennio Morricone\u2019s actually really great film score, so for those at least, we\u2019re grateful.<\/p>\n

Directed by David Kittredge, Boorman and the Devil opens in New York City on August 28. It then expands to wider release starting September 4.<\/p>\n

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel<\/a>, Star Wars<\/a>, and Star Trek<\/a> releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV<\/a>, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"William Friedkin\u2018s The Exorcist hit theaters in 1973 and made an impact that changed not just horror movies,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":721073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[95448,96,95449,95450,2839,38008,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-721072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-boorman-and-the-devil","tag-entertainment","tag-exorcist-ii-the-heretic","tag-john-boorman","tag-movies","tag-the-exorcist","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=721072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/721072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/721073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=721072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=721072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=721072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}