The Exorcist III and tells Karras to fight the Gemini. Karras regains his free will briefly and orders Kinderman to shoot him. He fires his revolver several times, hitting Karras in the chest, fatally wounding him and stopping the Gemini Killer. Kinderman puts his revolver against Karras' head and fires. William Peter Blatty, who wrote the original "Exorcist" novel and the screenplay for its film adaptation, initially had no desire to write a sequel. However, he eventually came up with a story titled "Legion", featuring Lieutenant Kinderman, a prominent character in the original "Exorcist" novel (though played a minor role in the eventual
The Exorcist III and Leslie Nielsen. Blair claimed that "Exorcist III" was rush-released ahead of "Repossessed", hijacking the latter's publicity and forcing the comedy to be released a month later than was originally intended. "The Exorcist III" initially received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes has reported that 56% of critics gave the film positive write-ups based on 39 reviews, with a rating of 5.3/10. British film critic Mark Kermode called it "a restrained, haunting chiller which stimulates the adrenalin and intellect alike," and "New York Times" reviewer Vincent Canby said ""The Exorcist III" is a better and funnier (intentionally)