We love a good cinematic trainwreck. Few disasters match the sheer, unbridled madness of 1977's Exorcist II: The Heretic. When Warner Bros. handed an astronomical budget to visionary director John Boorman, they expected a straightforward cash grab following William Friedkin's 1973 cultural phenomenon. Instead, they got a bizarre, locust-swarming, psychic-hypnosis fever dream that alienated audiences and nearly destroyed its maker's career. David Kittredge’s documentary Boorman and the Devil unpacks this legendary misfire, proving that Hollywood used to tolerate a level of auteur-driven insanity we can barely fathom today.
The Sin of Grand Ambition
Boorman didn't want to make a typical horror movie. He turned down the original Exorcist because he disliked the core material, but he accepted the sequel for the record-breaking studio check and creative carte blanche. Rather than recycling pea soup and spinning heads, he wanted to explore human consciousness, mysticism, and spiritual rebirth. Read more on a related topic: this related article.
He hired an entomologist fresh out of school to manage thousands of live locusts on set, ensuring every single insect was male to avoid an actual biological infestation in Los Angeles. He built massive African exteriors inside Burbank soundstages and utilized groundbreaking optical illusions. Stanley Kubrick famously warned him to just make the same movie with twice the blood. Boorman ignored him completely. He wanted to make art. The audience wanted a scare.
When Production Goes Completely Off the Rails
Making a blockbuster in the 1970s was a recipe for chaos. Richard Burton sleepwalked through the lead role as Father Lamont, frequently needing his lines fed to him while visibly checked out. Meanwhile, Boorman's health completely collapsed. A brutal mix of imported sand and artificial wind on set triggered a near-fatal case of San Joaquin Valley fever, hospitalizing the director for weeks while co-writer Rospo Pallenberg and the crew tried to glue the bleeding production together. Additional reporting by Vanity Fair delves into related perspectives on the subject.
When the film finally limped into theaters, the backlash was swift and brutal. Audiences laughed at the screen. Critics tore it to shreds. Boorman panicked, rushed back into editing while the movie was actively playing in cinemas, and frantically tried to slap a new ending on a project that had already slipped through his fingers.
Why This Disaster Still Matters
Today, studio blockbusters are pre-lit, focus-grouped, algorithmic safe spaces. Nobody is handing an $11 million budget to an eccentric auteur to build elaborate soundstage fantasies about locusts and telepathic linkages. Boorman and the Devil works so well because it honors an era when studios bankrolled absolute recklessness.
You don't have to call Exorcist II an overlooked masterpiece to respect its sheer audacity. It failed because Boorman aimed for the stars and crashed straight into the sun. Modern cinema needs more expensive failures if it wants to stumble into anything truly original. Stop watching algorithm-tested franchises and go track down the wildest swings Hollywood ever took.
BOORMAN AND THE DEVIL Movie Review | Exorcist II
This video provides an engaging breakdown of the documentary exploring the chaotic production and cultural legacy of Exorcist II.
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