Exorcist II: The Heretic New York City. William Peter Blatty claimed to have been the first person to start laughing at the theater in which he saw the film, only to be followed by the other patrons ("You'd think we were watching "The Producers""). William Friedkin, director of "The Exorcist", recalled hearing a story in which angry audience members at "Exorcist II"'s first public performance began chasing Warner Bros. executives down the street within the first ten minutes of the screening. Friedkin saw half an hour of the film: "I was at Technicolor and a guy said 'We just finished a print of "Exorcist
Exorcist II: The Heretic turkey." Steven Scheuer wrote, "This may be the worst sequel in the history of film." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film zero stars out of four and declared it "the worst major motion picture I've seen in almost eight years on the job." Danny Peary dismissed "Exorcist II" as "absurd." In his 1984 book "The Hollywood Hall of Shame", Michael Medved called the film "a thoroughly wretched piece of work," and added, "Richard Burton is a laugh a minute." Edward Margulies called the film a "calamitious, head-scratching, sequel..a rollicking mess" and wondered "whatever possessed them?" "The Blockbuster