In William Friedkin’s The Exorcist, the story follows Chris McNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and her relationship with her possessed daughter (Linda Blair) taking a self-seeking journey torn between science and faith. Chris is a glamorous actress starring in an upcoming film in Georgetown, where she temporarily stays. Being constantly busy with her work, Chris sometimes ignores her daughter’s strange behavior.
Regan is going through puberty, processing her changing physicality and mentality as her beloved mother barely has time to cope with it.
Meanwhile, priest Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow) makes a disturbing discovery during an archaeological dig in the ancient ruins of Hatra, in northern Iraq. This releases a demon that later makes its way to Georgetown; somewhere where young hearts lay susceptible to such evil powers. At the same time, a psychiatrist named Damian Karras also battles with his faith, trapped in an existential crisis.
Friedkin’s masterpiece undeniably stands out among several significant horrors of its era, focusing on religious terror. Terror that awakens your deepest thoughts surrounding faith and its so-called power. Apart from its theme and the director’s breathtaking take on William Peter Blatty’s novel, the film is stylistically and academically unique and almost impossible to compare with any other genre piece. What makes it so special to this day (leaving all the mess around Friedkin’s name along with his psychologically torturous techniques to bring out the best from his cast and crew in the name of his vision behind) is that despite the shivery aftertaste it leaves, the film is not cold-hearted. 
The unsuccessful sequel and William Blatty’s Legion adaptation to the big screen
Four years later, a sequel directed by John Boorman is released. It fails spectacularly. Without having anything to add to the first movie, The Exorcist franchise seemed damned at that point; something that fortunately changed with the release of the series’ third installment, which Exorcist novelist William Peter Blatty takes the helm on.
In Blatty’s film adaptation of his follow-up novel, the story takes a different turn. The plot’s main character is Lieutenant William F. Kinderman (played by George C. Scott), who is re-opening the case 15 years after his dear friend Father Karras’ death. Something devilish lurks in Georgetown once again and this time it’s a lot more powerful than ever before. The Devil is using the body of a mentally disturbed man as a host. Kinderman investigates the Gemini Killer (inspired by the real-life Zodiac Killer) and his supernatural powers as he digs inside his traumatized soul to find his lost faith in God and humanity.
What Blatty did that made the third installment in The Exorcist franchise so remarkable and powerful is that he never forcefully copied the original’s virtues. Despite the writer’s intervention and the success this title had brought to him years before, this threequel is individually important and separate from Friedkin’s masterwork. It’s a terrifying psychological thriller with constant twists as well as an eerie atmosphere that scrutinizes the art of the uncanny. Scott relentlessly fights demons under the veil of reason, at times debating over common sense and divinity.
Moreover, there’s an obvious weakness to it that the closer we get to the ending the more we can sense. Despite the larger-than-life acting both from Scott and Brad Dourif (playing the possessed) and some painfully shocking yet exciting scenes that prepared us for some good old-fashioned horror aesthetic and more thrilling plot twists.
The Exorcist III unquestionably does justice to its predecessor and is more than worthy of being considered one of the best horror movies of the 90s.
