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 into the legitimacy of Merrin's exorcism of Regan in the first film. In flashback sequences, we see Regan giving Merrin his fatal heart attack, as well as scenes from the exorcism of a young boy named Kokumo in Africa many years earlier. "The Exorcist III" appeared in 1990, written and directed by Blatty himself from his own 1983 novel "Legion". Completely ignoring the events of "Exorcist II", this book and film presented a continuation of Karras' story. Following the precedent set in "The Ninth Configuration," Blatty turned a supporting character from the first film – in this case, Kinderman —