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
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)