You can't talk about legendary cinematic crashes without landing on Exorcist II: The Heretic. It's basically the gold standard for how a studio cash grab turns into a baffling, psychedelic disaster. But director David Kittredge takes a wildly different path in his documentary Boorman and the Devil. Instead of just mocking a famous flop, Kittredge explores why the film's total collapse actually represents a rare, beautiful kind of artistic bravery we'll never see in modern blockbusters again.
When Warner Bros. released William Friedkin's original adaptation in 1973, it became an absolute cultural phenomenon. It scared audiences half to death, raked in cash, and picked up ten Academy Award nominations. Naturally, the studio wanted another hit. They handed the keys to John Boorman, a fiercely independent visionary fresh off Deliverance.
Boorman didn't want to make a repeat. He hated the idea of terrorizing children on screen. Instead, he wanted to construct a philosophical, metaphysical response that turned Regan—played once again by Linda Blair—into a healer rather than a victim.
It sounded great on paper. On screen, it became an incomprehensible nightmare.
The Anatomy of an Epic Production Disaster
If you want to understand how a movie goes completely off the rails, look no further than the production logistics of Exorcist II. Boorman demanded complete creative freedom, securing the largest budget in Warner Bros. history up to that point.
Then reality hit hard.
Richard Burton signed on to star as Father Lamont, but he checked out almost immediately. Crew members recalled him phoning in performances, faking illnesses during read-throughs, and needing his lines fed to him on set. Meanwhile, Boorman himself contracted a severe case of San Joaquin Valley fever during production. He was hospitalized, leaving co-writer Rospo Pallenberg and the crew to basically improvise and fix the script on the fly.
They built an entire Ethiopian village inside a Burbank soundstage. They relied on bizarre optical effects and synchronization machines to track locust swarms. By the time the film limped into theaters in June 1977, it was a totally different beast from what anyone intended. Audiences laughed out loud. Critics savaged it. Boorman was left dealing with a public humiliation that nearly ended his career for good.
Why Boorman and the Devil Changes Everything
What makes Kittredge's documentary so striking is how it handles the fallout. Most making-of features lean heavily into schadenfreude. They want to point and laugh at actors and directors who lost the plot.
Boorman and the Devil refuses that cheap route.
It features candid interviews with Boorman, Blair, and the late Louise Fletcher, who passed away in 2022. Fletcher offers a refreshing, grounded perspective on the whole mess, comparing the chaotic production to a tangled spaghetti dinner where the good and bad parts are inseparable. She has zero regrets.
Boorman is far more conflicted. He stands by his artistic choices while clearly bearing the mental scars of the backlash. He wanted to swing for the fences. He didn't want to hand fans a carbon copy of the first movie. He aimed for art, hit absolute absurdity instead, and paid the price.
The Death of High-Budget Risk-Taking
You simply cannot imagine a major Hollywood studio greenlighting a project like Exorcist II today. Modern franchises are pre-packaged, focus-grouped, and sanitized to protect shareholder value. Every sequel needs to hit exact beat sheets and fan expectations.
Boorman's misfire reminds us of an era when studios threw millions of dollars at auteur directors and just crossed their fingers. Did it work? Absolutely not. Exorcist II remains a baffling watch. But it proves that true artistic vision requires the freedom to fail spectacularly.
If you haven't seen Kittredge's documentary yet, track it down. It won't make you love the movie. It will, however, make you deeply miss a time when filmmakers were allowed to crash and burn in spectacular fashion.
Watch the documentary this weekend, then rewatch the sequel with entirely new eyes.
