The Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

The Exorcist II: The Heretic is the sequel to the ever popular William Friedkin film, The Exorcist.

It once again follows Regan Macneil 4 years after the traumatic events of the first film and focuses it's attention on the effects the exorcism have left on her subconsciously.

Directed by John Boorman and stars Linda Blair, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, Kitty Winn and James Earl Jones.

This entry in the Exorcist film trilogy is the only one which is not based from one of William Peter Blatty's novel and was deemed, hands down, the worse film in the franchise by fans and critics alike.

For years, after seeing the first film all my focus and attention was on finding a copy of this no matter the cost. I had searched my home town high and low without any results, not even a thing available by order from my local video store which made things even harder for me.

But one faithful night, I had been awakened around 3 am and could no longer return to sleep. I took this opportunity to turn the television on and see what nonsense was playing in the wee hours of the morning and to my surprise, there it was! The Exorcist II: The Heretic.

And once it was done. I realized I had just wasted years of my life searching for something that turned out to be a completely useless and pointless pile of trash!

A portion of the story line is a very, very cheap rip off of the first film and the rest of it made no sense at all! I understand it's a horror movie and that some things won't make a lick of sense at times but this was just ridiculous. At least try to stay in the realm of reality to a certain degree!

The biggest thing that upset me about the film was the "Regan Vs." scene at the end of the film. The graphics were questionable and the idea behind it was just crazy.

What I did like about this film however was the concept of the synchronizer. Take out the religious aspect and the idea of demonic possession and an obvious title change. Then throw in a few new ideas that will coincide with the device being used and you have got yourself a a decent science fiction flick.

With all this combined, I would have to give this Exorcist sequel a 3 out of 10. It's bearable to watch if you really want to do so, but it will leave you shaking your head by the time you hit the final scene.

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Stephen King's: The Shining (1977 Novel)

Today we have a great piece of horror literature written by the one and only Stephen King.

The Shining is the story follows the Torrence family who has been struggling financially for the last few months made due to and unfortunate event which lead to the dismissal of Jack's employment as a teacher.

In order to help himself and his family get back on their feet, Jack takes a job as the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel as offered to him by an old acquaintance and move himself and his family up to the mountains where the Overlook laid.

Upon their arrival a man named Dick Hollorann senses something in Jack's son, Danny. Once he pulls him aside, he learns that Danny, like himself, has what is called the Shining. This is the ability to read people's minds and predict events that will be happening presently in another place or things that will be happening to themselves in the near future.

Once snowed into the hotel, Jack starts to act strangely and violently, prompting Danny and his mother to act quickly in order to avoid getting caught up with the strange phenomenon plaguing the hotel.

Written by Stephen King and published in 1977, the shining was quickly adapted into a film which received mixed feelings from audiences but eventually started to get a warmer reception  throughout the summer. It is now at the level where critics are calling it a masterpiece but the man who wrote the book states otherwise. King stated that, although the film "contributed something of value to the genre" he did not find it to be a good adaptation of his novel.

This is something I can agree with.

The detail that King uses in the novel really help you delve into the minds of the characters showing you every aspect of the story from all their points of view. It was also able to help provide a true horror aura in some parts of the book.

There are also a ton of differences between the book and the film that made me jump up and yell out "how did they not put this in the movie!".  These are differences that I will gladly break down in the near future in a special spoiler filled review session.

I could not get enough of this book and can not give it any less than a 9 out of 10.

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