Exorcist II: The Heretic mind". "Variety" wrote: ""Exorcist II" is not as good as "The Exorcist." It isn't even close." BBC film critic Mark Kermode stated: ""Exorcist II" is demonstrably the worst film ever made. It took the greatest film ever made and trashed it in a way that was on one level farcically stupid and on another level absolutely unforgivable. Everyone involved in this, apart from Linda Blair, should be ashamed for all eternity." Vincent Canby, writing in "The New York Times", was similarly dismissive: Given the huge box-office success of the William Peter Blatty-William Friedkin production of "The Exorcist," there had to
The Exorcist (film series) her review in "The New Yorker" that "Exorcist II" "had more visual magic than a dozen movies." Since "Exorcist II's" initial release, some notable critics and directors have praised the film. Kim Newman wrote in "Nightmare Movies" (1988) that "it doesn't work in all sorts of ways... However, like Ennio Morricone's mix of tribal and liturgical music, it does manage to be very interesting." Director Martin Scorsese asserted, "The picture asks: Does great goodness bring upon itself great evil? This goes back to the Book of Job; it's God testing the good. In this sense, Regan (Linda Blair) is a