Boorman and the Devil Review: A Masterful Documentary on the Horrific Hollywood Failure of Exorcist II: The Heretic
Venice Film Festival
With Linda Blair, Louise Fletcher and director John Boorman as talking heads, David Kittredge investigates one of the most maligned sequels in Hollywood history
Words by Alex Secilmis 8 September 2025
© Warner Bros.
All good films are alike; each bad film is bad in its own way. When asked what makes for a success in Tinseltown, renowned horror director Mike Flanagan says something to the effect of that Tolstoy pastiche. And for the subject of his documentary, Boorman and the Devil, David Kittredge has chosen a uniquely, incomparably bad film.
Exorcist II: The Heretic was the big-budget follow-up to the Academy Award-winning cultural phenomenon. Everything was in place for another hit: Warner Bros. initially invested a record $12.5 million and enlisted director John Boorman (of Deliverance fame), acting royalty Richard Burton was on board, and William Goodhart’s sharp script convinced Regan actress Linda Blair to return. But when the sequel premiered in June 1977, it inspired laughter, not horror. Terrible word of mouth killed its box office chances, and an irate crowd at the first public screening chased WB executives out of the cinema and down the street.
© Warner Bros.
The audience response would be enough of a story in itself, but through interviews with cast, crew, and contemporary critics, Boorman and the Devil is a comprehensive account of a calamity from its production to its legacy. Meticulous, poignant, and even laugh-out-loud funny, Kittredge’s documentary is a fascinating post-mortem of an unrivalled Hollywood disaster that doubles as a sensitive reflection on the meaning of failure.
Boorman and the Devil assembles a truly huge group of interviewees to approach its subject matter from every given angle. Kittredge speaks with Boorman and his right-hand man, Rospo Pallenberg, who both believed they were making a thoughtful film exploring metaphysics rather than a gory chiller. He then meets with actresses Louise Fletcher, who joined the film hot off her Oscar-winning turn as Nurse Ratched, and Linda Blair, getting plenty of amusing soundbites out of them (“Oh, it’s a sequel,” Fletcher recalls thinking. “Why didn’t I make the first one?”). But we also hear from Steven R. Kutcher, the man who thankfully checked the sex of 3000 imported locusts and removed a few females to stop them reproducing.
© Warner Bros.
Across the numerous interviews, we learn that, during production, the cast and crew were convinced the film was cursed: the director nearly died twice, Linda Blair almost fell from a skyscraper, and a Californian locust infestation was narrowly averted. By sharing these horror stories and painstakingly highlighting the effort poured into the film, David Kittredge makes the eventual failure of Exorcist II all the more mystically compelling. And with the documentary clocking in at just under 2 hours, Kittredge’s editing keeps the film tightly-paced while elegantly setting up a series of morbid punchlines as the cast and crew find the humour in their misfire. The use of original animation also injects the film with energy, especially the dramatisation of Richard Burton’s intestinal troubles during the read-through.
© Warner Bros.
While mostly relaying a behind-the-scenes story of tragicomic proportions, Boorman and the Devil takes a surprisingly tender turn. As Boorman candidly speaks on an experience that still pains him nearly half a century later, Kittredge transforms the film into a touching tribute to uncompromising artistic visions, celebrating filmmakers who take risks in an industry where, especially today, reiterating past success is the unavoidable norm. As critics weigh in, the documentary suggests that The Heretic, as Boorman wanted to simply call it, failed as a sequel but isn’t necessarily a “bad” movie—film historian Joseph McBride even deems it a “masterpiece”. It’s a work of art worth seeing for yourself, ideally just before enjoying Kittredge’s riveting documentary.