SCORETOBER!!! Day 20 Exorcist 3 LEGION CUT!!!!!

Day 20

The Exorcist 3 Legion Cut

I have some explaining to do. But I’ve already said it in a past review. So we’ll do it again.

Hi.

I made the decision not to review the first Exorcist film. Tubular Bells is so known, and also so over played it’s almost to a point as beautiful as it was in the first film, it just…It’s been talked about, raved about, and blessed so many thousands of times. I don’t know what if anything I could add to it. Pluss for me growing up and seeing it. The film score never really stood out to me. It was unique, absolutely. There are other tracks versus the main one I know. I know. But it just wasn’t something that stuck with me really.

All of the films I picked for this month, are all based off films that I saw and the music just grabbed me. It stuck with me and I either fell for completely, or couldn’t shake free of.

For me, The Exorcist 3 falls into that category.

There are certain films you see growing up, when you just just that right age, or you catch in theater and it just hits right. Well, I saw Exorcist 3 in a drive-in. It became the scariest damn thing I’d seen and wasn’t at all what the first one was. It was just scarier, creepier. The music had that feeling to it as well.

I was 10 when the movie came out, and it stuck with me. It still has one of the scariest scenes in a horror film, it has a soundtrack that manages to take the original and not try to out do it. But makes it sounds inherently more evil.

So apologies for anyone who expected or wondered when the first would show up on my best 31 horror film scores. This one, the one most people hated BUT not nearly loathed as much as they did Excorcist 2 The Heretic.

What’s more though, is that this isn’t the theatrical cut. It’s the directors cut. Which I really had to struggle with over which cut of the film to review and go over.

Both are that different, in the end. I love both cuts of the film for different reasons, and I feel both work as the films they were intended to be.

If it makes any sense, this is how I feel about the film and its different versions.

The Theatrical cut of Exorcist 3, is a good follow up to The Exorcist.

The Legion cut of Exorcist 3, is a good sequel to The Exorcist.

If that makes sense to you. Then you get it.

So with that said. Forgive me my sin of forsaking the original from this list, and lets get into a great psychological suspense horror.

The Film.

Speaking of the original! We are kicking things RIGHT OFF with both the original theme, and the all to famous stairs from the first. But as the familiar theme plays out, it gives way to a darker, more evil tone. The film begins in 1975, showing us the very end of the exorcism from the first film, as father Damian Karras flung himself out of Regan’s bedroom window down the stairs below to his death. Across the street from the MacNeil house. A church sits with its doors sealed and candles lit, the priest within having left. Moments after he’s parted, the doors burst open to a loud gust of wind, and the centerpiece crucifix with a painted figure of Christ upon it, opens its eyes. An evil has left this place and now roams outside the church. Walking calmly down the street toward the scene at the MacNeil house. We see in the distance the priest from the church running toward the chaos below, Father Dyer, Karras’s best friend. The voice of Brad Dourif echoes out as this entity walks on toward the steps “I have dreams…of a rose, and then of falling down a long flight of steps.”, with that we are taken down our own trip falling down the stairs, and then. The flashback ends, and we enter the year 1990.

Introducing us now to Lieutenant  Kinderman, this time played by George C. Scott. Kinderman was the lieutenant  from the first Exorcist who investigated the murder from the first film involving the film director who had their neck broke and head turned completely around. He too was a friend to Damian. At the end of that film Kinderman and Dather Dyer became friends. They began their friendship and healing over Karras’s loss by going to the movies together. It’s been 15 years since the events of the first film, and these two are still friends going through the same routine. Both claiming to do so as a way to cheer up the other.

Kinderman is investigating a new homicide. A young African American boy killed and found under a bridge. His head and a hand removed. It stirs something in Kinderman from his past, and makes him fearful for what it could mean. It’s very obvious from his behavior and knowing today is the day Damian had died, that he doesn’t need this or want it. Let alone the images it brings back to him, and especially this time it being a kid who was murdered.

Across the way Father Dyer is finishing up his day at church services and grabbing some lunch. He’s apparently also on edge. Even after 15 years, Damian’s death still gets to him. A young priest is trying to be helpful as well as a little nosey, which today of all days, just pushes the father a little more than he’d care for and he tells the kid to get lost. Later having to explain himself to a superior. Before excusing himself to meet with Lieutenant  Kinderman. The two are meeting at the cinema with plans to see the rerelease of “It’s a Wonderful Life”, Having read the book it’s one of my favorite little scenes because it still holds a lot of the dialog from that and it was a bit of fun between the two characters. As Kinderman flashes his badge to get into the theater and keep himself from paying for a ticket, Father Dyer rolls his eyes and ask god to forgive the man, but as Kinderman moves to the theater doors, he see’s he has lost Father Dyer, who stands in line to get a snack, he complains that they’ll miss the beginning of the film, but Dyer is unmoved, telling him he needs lemon drops, “I need some lemon drops, I once spent a year hearing kids confessions and ended up a lemon drop junky. The little weirdoes keep breathing it on you, along with all that pot, and between the two of them, I’ve got a feeling it’s probably addictive.” I agree with Dyer, I love lemon drops, and they are a part of life.

What’s best though, is a story Kinderman shares with his friend to entertain him as he notes he looks a bit troubled, and he doesn’t want to admit the real reason he looks out of it. So he tells him a fun story about his daily life at current. “My wife's mother is visiting, Father. And Tuesday night, she's cooking us a carp. It's a tasty fish, I've got nothing against it. But, because it's supposedly filled with impurities, she buys it live and for three days, it's been swimming... up and down... in my bathtub. Up and down... and I hate it. I can't stand the sight of it, moving its gills. Now, you're standing very close to me, Father; have you noticed? Yes. I haven't had a bath for three days. I can't go home until the carp is asleep because if I see it, swimming... I'll kill it.”

It's funny and seeing Dyer try to hold it in while hearing Kinderman deliver it as a serious thing he truly means, deadpan the entire time.

After their film, the two meet up for dinner in a nearby restaurant. Which turns into a spiritual discussion and exploration of each others beliefs. It’s honestly worth getting into as it ties into how both men related too and bonded over Damian and his friendship. That both Kinderman and Damien had a crisis of faith. How Kinderman still does. Because of all the death he sees every day. Seeing people at their worst, he can’t believe a god exist in this world. But Dyer is the opposite. He’s always believed good exist, that evil can’t exist without it, just as good can’t exist without evil. That though people are capable of evil, they are still worth saving and capable of good. That in the end God forgives our trespasses and we go on to a better place. The two butt heads but still respect the others position while still questioning the others faith. It’s a good exchange between them as Kinderman blames God for things in the world. He ask how a God who is good can invent something like homicide. That we live in a world where cancer and murderers, monsters prowl the planet, killing families and loved ones, making them suffer. All while he feels God waltzes through the universe without a care. Father Dyers simple answer is one I still like and oddly hold to in regards to a lot. “It all works out right, at the end of time.”

As the two end their evening together and return home. An elderly woman is being escorted to visit a priest for confession, , Father Kanavan pulls back the wooden slate separating the two and ask her to confess her sins, “I have a... a... scrupulous conscience, Father. This need to... confess... so many things. If I... step on... two straws on the shape of the Cross, I feel that I have to confess it. It torments me.”, the priest nods back to the woman and tells her to try and make a good confession, that Christ forgives us all of our sins, “Only little on things like... seventeen of them, Father. The first was that... waitress... near Candlestick Park. I... cut her throat. Watched her bleed. She bled a great deal. It's a problem I'm working on, Father - all... this... bleeding.”, with that. The elderly womans voice trails off having darkened and carrying a sinister tone, cackling as she finishes and the priest looks over in horror. Some time later a woman screams as she enters the confessional and finds the screen between the two rooms torn, and the priest dead, blood on the floor. As we witness the elder lady looking back with no remorse and heading out of the church.

It's another murder Kinderman must now investigate, and tires him immediately. Checking over the priest corpse. Finding it also decapitated, and his hand missing. More and more things are stacking up in a way that haunts him further as he feels a ghost from his past as an early lieutenant  creeping up.

He decides to leave the church after the investigation and visit his friend Father Dyer. Dyer during their meeting had admitted to suffering from dizzy spells, Kinderman told him he should get that checked and he promised he would, unfortunately he finds himself stuck in the hospital now for observation and testing. It’s every bit as boring as you can possibly imagine believe me. My moms been in hospitals over night and for several days at a time, and I’ve had to stay overnight for test before and having time away from home is good sure, but having someone check on you every hour, asking your name, and birthdate, making sure you are still you and with the world. With limited entertainment, and a bed you have to stay in. Yeah. Fun times.

He's brought his friend a plushy penguin, because he felt it looked enough like Dyer as a priest he’d enjoy it, he also brought his friend a stack of magazines to read and a hamburger. Now THAT is a friend.

Yes hospitals hate that, but it happens. My dad constantly snuck my mom Carl’s Jr sometimes. And She did the same for him. Yes its not healthy but. Its sweet.

The two bicker and it cheers dyer up, even as Kinderman acts like he’s annoyed. Dyer is his outlet and a sanity check for him. Even if Kinderman acts annoyed. He trust the mans judgement and he relies in him to help keep him sane. Seeing as the hospital staff are getting more active Kinderman decides to leave after a short while, leading to one of the weirdest scares, and something you have to question is Kinderman saw, or if it was an illusion. But as he stands by an elevator and waits. Once the doors open and he exits. We see a statue behind him of Mary, but the head has been removed.

That night Kinderman has an odd dream. He’s visiting a train station. Inside are handfuls of angels and people sit dressed in white, playing card games, music, and chatting with one another. It’s a dream of a train station before you get to heaven. He see’s the murdered boy from earlier. With his eyes back in his head, and his neck now stitched to hold his head in place, the same with his hand. He tells the lieutenant  he’s doing well and Kinderman smiles telling him how sorry he was that he died. We also scarily see of all people a former living angel of the 80’s and 90’s Fabio. Also, if you look carefully,, there is a blind man there as well sitting beside someone playing with a radio, it just so happens that man is a young Samuel L. Jackson. But also among these souls, is Father Dyer, who also appears to have stitching around himself. Kinderman gently smiles and ask aloud how he wonders which one of them are dreaming. Dyer shakes his head at his friend and tells him “No Bill, I’m not dreaming.” With that Kinderman wakes to a phone call from his partners. There’s been another murder. This time its Father Dyer.

Kinderman makes his way to the hospital, not in any rush to see the state of his friends body. But he knows he has too and he begins his investigation. Very obviously unable to handle it as he again runs through the same once over he’d given the previous murder victims found in similar circumstances. Checking first Dyers hand. Then his head. It’s the first time he’s shown any emotion while checking over a body. He stands back from the bed and notices beside the bed a series of tiny hospital cups, all perfectly lined up and sealed. He ask them what those are, and none of the other officers want to answer him. As he repeats himself one finally manages to find his voice and tells him that the jars found beside Dyer’s bed, are his entire blood supply. His body had been drained of every last drop. Without one drop spilt. The jars perfectly measured and sealed with not even a smudge on them. All perfectly arranged and filled.

The only blood not accounted for in those jars, was the blood used to write on the wall above Dyer’s bed. Which was covered up from the staff. Kinderman pulls the plastic covering back and reveals a gruesome message written across the white board. “It’s a Wonderfull life.” More and more dread is filling him and he has to sit down. Taking in everything he’s just seen, the series of murders that now have also claimed his one good friend and confidant. Feeling for the first time in a long time vulnerable and alone. Kinderman quietly tells his men to lock all the doors to the hospital and begin questioning people. Not to let anyone exit without doctors orders, and all admittance to be checked and signed in. He starts his job as a lieutenant  by interviewing the nurse who discovered father Dyer’s body. She tells him she spent her shift writing reports, that for 30 minutes she was away from her office desk, seeing nothing and no one. Almost no one. The only person she saw was one person in the hallway, a patient named Mrs. Clelia. She was laying on the floor unconscious. She picked her up and brought her back to the neurology ward and returned, checking in on Father Dyer, only to find him dead.

Kinderman is escorted to the neurology unit where he meets Clelia. An elderly woman focused on an invisible radio of hers that she’s waiting for someone to repair for her. She tells Kinderman that it’s broken. She doesn’t hear music. Dead people talk through it. Looking at her and asking her polite questions he realizes she couldn’t have killed Dyer. She could barely stand up and the doctor tells him she’s quasi-catatonic. As he smiles to the woman listening to her talk about her radio, she tells him he has a very kind face, reaching out to lightly touch his cheek, nodding to herself before adding “You will do well.”

Kinderman walks beside the doctor who showed him through the neurology ward and now takes him to a secure wing where they keep the disturbed patience. He casually walks down the isle of doors glancing into a few, and as he passes one, he hears the faintest almost familiar voice of Father Karras, calling out his name, “Bill..” It stops him in his tracks and he slowly turns to the door the voice came from, as he does and peers inside. He can’t see the person within the cell, but he keeps staring hoping to see them, but still wondering if it was an actual voice he heard or something he imagined. Eventually departing the facility. While within the room the camera begins to enter, showcasing a very dark almost medieval looking room of rough bricks, and a patient wrapped in a straight jacket, speaking out gently, we again hear Brad Dourif and his beautiful voice, “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those who think'st thou dost overthrow die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.”

Just the slightest bit creepy, but still. Dourif is a joy. Always.

ALWAYS!

Now Kinderman has to deal with the head of the hospital, who’s anything but happy let alone with Kinderman. He’s pissed about the police taking over his hospital. The patience being disturbed with the commotion and questioning. Asking where he gets off on any sense of authority to close down the place. All while he watches his friends body being wheeled out in a body bag. As the man yells in his face he calmly watches the man, and ask just as quietly and calmly, “Have you ever heard of the Gemini killer?”

Now, things are getting rolling, and we’re getting filled in on why he’s been so troubled.

“He died in the electric chair, but do you recall all the stories in the papers and on television, about the Gemini’s strange MO? I’ll remind you. Supposedly…the middle finger of the victim’s left hand was always found severed. Always missing. In addition, on the victim’s back, we were told, the killer carved out a sign of the zodiac. The Gemini symbol, the twins” He’s interrupted and reminded that was over 15 years ago, Kinderman immediately shouts at the doctor to shut his mouth, with that he begins to break down and begin to cry. Apologizing asking for a moment as he’s steadily losing himself over his friends passing, “The Gemini MO that you heard about is false. The missing finger was not on the victim’s left hand, but on the right. It was the index finger, and the sign of the zodiac was carved, not on the victim’s back, but on the victim’s left palm. Only Richmond homicide knew that. No one else. The misinformation was fed to the press in order to weed out, all the crackpots who were coming in saying they were the Gemini Killer. But in this case, three decapitations, three victims…with this finger severed, the correct one, and the sign of the Gemini here. HERE! One more thing, The Gemini wrote letters to the newspapers, bragging about his murders, and he always doubled his final L’s, whatever the word. Two L’s, as in ‘Wonderfull’. The victims names always starting with K, like Karl his father, a famous evangelist he hated and wanted to shame, and whom he wanted to kill, and keep killing.”, the doctor, now much calmer shook his head, curiously but perplexed at the connection he was trying to make with the murders including Father Dyer, “But the priest, Father Dyer, Joseph Dyer…”, Kinderman nods and turns to the doctor staring back blankly, “Father Dyer’s middle name was Kevin.”

Its beautifully written and equally creepy. Hearing him retell a story that haunted him during his early days as a lieutenant  and kept the city on edge, and how feeling like he’s reliving it as the series of recent murders all match the true MO of the real Gemini Killer, executed over 15 years ago. There’s a lot of dialog in this film and not much common horror. But what horror there is, is grizzly. The director is also the author of both The Exorcist and LEGION the basis of this film. He kept a lot of the dialog from the book in this film and it was an issue he had with Friedkin whom directed the Exorcist. Which is why Hollywood tends to believe you shouldn’t really work with the author, because more often than not, they tend to feel their dialog is the word, and you should never cut the word.

As we part the head doctors discussion with Kinderman and his story of the Gemini. We are taken to another part of the hospital. A room where the surgical tools are stored. It’s an almost medieval like display with some of the tools they have put out for examination, and especially the most impractical looking of all tools, because well…surprise! They are impractical as they were made specifically for this movie, which makes them comical, and creepy. On the table is a large pair of polished chrome spring loaded sheers. Kinderman ask about it immediately as it is the one tool on the table that absofuckinglutely looks like the kind of weapon you’d use to take someones head off with!

What’s scarier about the scene, aside seeing the sheers being opened and how the spring automatically snaps the sheers shut, along with the pure strength it takes to open them. Is the fact the sheers have a tag on them, why? Because these were recently ordered as a replacement for the original one. Which has gone missing.

How conveeeeeeeeeenient!!

But oh no, that’s not the creepiest thing you’ve seen all damn day, or night..whenever you watch this. We’re getting to one of ‘those’ moments.

Lieutenant  Kinderman is going to church, ascending a staircase, passing three large stained glass murals with a statue at the center depicting a priest holding a bible in one hand and a cross in the other, meeting with the priest they begin discussing the passing of father Dyer. He talks to the priest trying to come up with some connection, an idea who might have wanted to harm Dyer. But outside of the Gemini facts he is unsure what any of these victims could’ve had in common. The priest suggest perhaps it was the connection Dyer had to the Regan MacNeil exorcism, that perhaps the murders were a religious connection, seeing as how the boy found dead under the bridge had been crucified, and a rose/thorn crown put on his severed head. At the mention of the exorcism, a large clock in the background stops ticking, next the lights flicker and the faint whispered giggle of possessed Regan can be heard, as well as even quieter almost mumbled latin. Kinderman feeling as uneasy as the rest of us, steps outside the office to investigate. Finding nothing. Only we see something. A definite for sure creepy as fuck something.

As Kinderman enters the hallway and looks over the stairwell. Things appear to be normal, even if dark. But the statue is now gone from its center placement. We begin hearing the low growling that so far has accompanied all evil presence in the film and to Kinderman’s right, Down the hallway. We see the statue has been moved and played just behind the door. But its not the same statue. The head has changed, The priest head now looks more like the Joker, with terror filled eyes and a sinister open mouth smile, the hand holding the cross now replaced with a dagger in its hand. Even creepier still, the statue is facing the audience US, not Kinderman.

Just then out of nowhere a pair of feet walks hurridly over and bumps into Kinderman scaring both the shit out of him and us. But he’s safe, it’s an older woman who giggles and apologizing for bumping into him in the dark. Just as power is restored once more. The statue, still missing from its perch.

What’s even creepier? Especially with great speakers or WORSE, subtitles on. You can actually hear a thud in the hall before Kinderman enters it, and a light dragging. So you actually do hear the statue being moved and purposely placed there, like that. But no idea as to why let alone who. It’s just absolutely unsettling and creepy as hell.

There’s really no answer from the director as to why it’s in there, but, and I hate being that guy saying this, so apologies. But if you read the book. No the scene is not from there, but hear me out. The book, both actually, talk about how in the Exorcist, there were reports(and the movie showed) some religious statues being defaced and broken. Assumingly by vandals. But it is implied though not explicitly said, that it could’ve been the work of the demon who later possesses Regan. In the case of this film? I believe that’s what happened also. The priest in both always talked about as in most possession cases in real life and films. That the demon would always twist the word and image of god. Any kind of slate against religion was considered a good joke to a demon. So it is entirely possible that, if there is indeed a demon spirit running loose. Like there was from what we saw at the start of the film with the Jesus on the cross opening its eyes, and the doors bursting open. It’s safe to assume a demon again did this. Demonstrating its power and the fact it can go anywhere it wants, Holy or otherwise, and do as it pleases. Unchallenged by god or men of the cloth.

Scary shit, but again unfortunately not entirely proven. Just there in subtext.

Any who. Kinderman is okay, and makes not to quietly clean his pants. Because wouldn’t we all.  He returns to the priest and they continue their talk in trying to come up with any connections to the three deceased people. Outside of the K reference in their names. The more the priest considers things, he carefully looks to Kinderman and ask him if he believes in possession, and the MacNiel case. He goes on to also mention that, back when Father Karras has brought the case up before them, he had gone to a priest who headed the church,which is the job this current priest now holds. He says the priest who Damien talked to okayed the exorcism to go forward. The name of that priest was Father Kanavan. The priest murdered in the confessional. So that links Kanavan and Father Dyer. But what about the decapitated boy? The priest wets his lips and continues on, to tell Kinderman that Father Damien had brought in a recording to the church universities linguistics department for them to decipher. It was the recording taken from Regan when he went to judge if she was possessed or not. The head of their department of linguistics determined the tape was English spoken in reverse, and that there were several voices present in the recording. That woman was the boys mother, their last name was Kintry. Now the three bodies are connected both to the Gemini’s MO, and the priest involved with the exorcism, further deepening the cases story and puzzling the two. Especially given two separate events connecting them but with one killers signature. With that Kinderman is off to do as he promised himself and clean his pants.

However there is no rest for the law. He had Father Dyers room, and the jars all tested for finger prints, same with the confessional booth and the boy under the bridge. And after all the questioning at the hospital and searching their database. One clear print was found in that room. Which puzzles him even more. It’s the fingerprint of the catatonic elderly woman. Who has nowhere near the strength to stand up, let along cut someones head off, finger off, and somehow pump the blood out of their body in under 30 minutes.

But if you want stranger things, heh.

If you want STRANGER things to make you wonder just what the hell your watching? Prepare yourself for what is about to come. We are about to talk with the doctor in charge of the disturbed patience. This mans office….coupled with 2k HD is…well I learned some things I didn’t notice before. Which REALLY should’ve been blaringly obvious to me. Especially growing up and as a teenager. But. It somehow escaped me, so I shall share it with all of you fine folks.

This office is a hoarding paradise. There are stacks upon stacks of bundled up newspapers, random odd paintings on the wall from patience I would hope and not the doctor because if so…damn man. There is also an odd shrine of photos on the wall. A very VERY odd shrine. It starts with three images at the top, showing a skull from multiple angles, left right and straight ahead. Outside of those are images of religious figures, and an object that is hard to make out, and finally in the bottom middle, is another religious figure painting. Now what’s odd about this ‘shrine’, is that behind all of these photos. Hung on the wall?

Is a full nude, legs spread wide centerfold. With HUGE boobah, wonderful nipples, and JUST the faintest hint of, a well maintained lawn hidden behind the painting of the religious figure.

The breast are VERY visible. There is NO WAY. On the face of this EARTH. You can not see them.

But here we are, and I admit it.I did not see them. Ever. Until recently.

However I think it’s more important that we discuss and ask ourselves, just WHAT KIND OF DOCTOR DECIDES TO HANG UP A CENTERFOLD OF A LARGE BREASTED BLONDE SQUATING AND SPREADING THEIR LEGS IN THEIR OFFICE?!!

Seriously, if my Doctor, who I already chuckle at for having the name of an actual Hobbit. If I went into her office and she had a centerfold of a guy with a huge hanging dong and balls that could blanket your forehead stuck between their degrees and awards? I’d tell them nice hog, but I’d also have to wonder how hardcore this lady is that we might be able to hang out sometime, and why she felt the need to throw around some big dick energy like that by hanging up a nude centerfold.

I mean I get it, hanging comical stuff at work or home, hell when you enter my doorway there’s a sign on the wall that greets you saying “Medicated for your safety”, That’s funny, people laugh. If I posted a gynecological nude spread of Desireé Cousteau. I HIGHLY doubt females would nod and give me a thumbs up “Nice beaver shot bro.”,

But who am I to judge, let alone ask. For all I know it could be some calming technique or practice for neurosurgeons. Or the guy just really loves huge tits and bush.

Moving right along…

The doctor is, well full of caffeine shakes, he’s nervous, jittery and smoking like Dennis Leery doing standup in the 90’s. He’s practicing a speech, which seems odd, until we remember the wall art. But the speech he’s practicing. Rehearsing, is the one he is about to give to Lieutenant  Kinderman when he arrives.

“That man, in the isolation tank. You know, the one you checked in on? The police brought him in here, 15 years ago. They picked him up wandering the C&O Canal around Key Bridge. Total amnesia. No ID. They brought him to us here, and his condition grew worse. He ended up catatonic. Completely withdrawn, But recently, well…about six weeks ago, he slowly started to come out of it. Every day he got better, and then, all of a sudden, he got violent. Really bad news. We’ve been giving him electroshock therapy, and as of two weeks ago, he’s been in isolation. But, but the thing is…he says he’s the Gemini Killer.

Well that’s not something you hear everyday. So with that, Kinderman is going straight to see that man. The finally open the mans cell and let him in. Only to find a very solum figure sitting on his bunk, slowly looking up to the man. We’ve finally seen the wonderful face of Brad Dourif. Which for reasons we don’t know or see yet, freak the hell out of Kinderman. Who immediately stumbles through the doorway leaving the room. He ask the doctor for the file on the man in the cell, for all paperwork they have on him. Only to discover what they do have on him is paper thin and unhelpful. None of it says how he was dressed when they brought him in, if he said anything, what they found on him. Nothing, just that he exist.

So before he can explain anything further to any of us, he tells another lieutenant  to begin rotating two men every 24 hours on every ward of the hospital, to put two men outside near the entryway of cell 11 in the disturbed ward. He also wants the dental records, hell even saliva test if he took them, and a court order to exhume the grave of Father Damian Karras, Which rightfully confuses the hell out of the poor guy, and us as well, “Father Karras, was a Jesuit psychiatrist at Georgetown University. The man was a saint, he was my best friend. I loved him. Fifteen years ago he jumped or was pushed to his death…down that long flight of steps next to the car barn, I saw it. I watched him die…I think, the man in Cell 11, is Damien Karras.”

After all his request are met. They still somehow come up empty. As for the grave? We aren’t given an answer really, except Kinderman looking down into the open grave and casket to say “It isn’t him.” Does he mean the man in cell 11 isn’t Karras? Does he mean the man in the grave isn’t him? Which is it?! Somehow there’s no files for Karras, no dental, no fingerprints. Nothing. Only further adding to Kinderman’s frustrations.

So he’s left with little choice but to go visit the man in Cell 11 and talk to him. It’s eerily similar in many ways to when Damien visited Regan in the first film and questioned her to determine if she was possessed. The demon was cheerful and all to ready to be of help. It demonstrated its abilities for Karras but never over stepped, until provoked by the end of the visit.

Now Kinderman is doing similarly with a man who claims to be the Gemini Killer, but he believes to somehow be Damien. The conversation between the two is a wonderful back and forth, It’s something I enjoyed more seeing with Brad Dourif doing in this cut of the film, though we are unfortunately left with a relatively low quality version of those scenes. He too is demonstrating some of his abilities to Kinderman. Mostly his ability to mimic things and do impressions. Like a galloping horse, and a rather impressive Train entering the station. But it doesn’t impress the lieutenant . He just watches him and keeps as calm as he can while questioning him, only to find its mildly frustrating to the man. It isn’t until Kinderman ask him what his name is, that things get very interesting however.

When prompted, he answers simply that he is the Gemini Killer, Kindermen tells them the Gemini has been dead for over 15 years, but he assured Kinderman that he is indeed the Gemini. He begins recanting one of his murders of a little girl. Explaining what she wore and looked like. How he dumped parts of her body at a city dump, but kept parts of her, explicitly her breast, he tells Kinderman that he killed the boy by the river, the two priest as well. That yes their names all began with a K. But it was a step away from his normal. He prefers a different approach. “You see, they were off my beaten track. I kill at random. That’s the thrill of it. No motive. That’s the fun. The black boy and the priest were different. I was obliged to settle a score on behalf of, well, a friend”, when prompted to know what friend, he simply answers a friend over there. He can’t tell him about his friends over there, who ‘they’ are. Because it’s forbidden.

During their exchange, and Kinderman’s uneased tension from the conversation. Hearing these facts from the Gemini case, he tries shouting out the name of Father Karras to get a reaction from the man, but it does nothing. He simply tells Kinderman not to shout or he’ll have to throw him out, he wants to finish his story and pushing his buttons further with his details. Only after he is finished does he acknowledge it “Incidentally, who’s this Damien you mentioned?” Kinderman is surprised by this and ask the man he see’s as his one time friend “Don’t you know?”, the man simply states he knows nothing. It’s of no interest to him, he instead wants to further talk about his killings. Asking if the press are referring to them as Gemini Killings, it’s important to him that they do. But Kinderman is unphased, telling him once again that the Gemini Killer is dead. “No, I am not! I’m alive! I go on! I breathe! See to it’s known or I will punish you!”

Kinderman ask what he means by that but he won’t tell him. He goes back to trying to push his buttons once more, this time, using Father Dyer’s death. Again to try and show him he is the man he claims to be and nothing more. “Life is fun. It’s a wonderful life, in fact. For some. It’s too bad about poor Father Dyer. I killed him, you know. An interesting problem, but finally it worked. First, a bit of the old succinylcholine, to permit one to work without annoying distractions. Then a 3-foot catheter threaded directly into the inferior vena cava…or the superior vena cava, It’s a matter of taste, don’t you think? Then the tube moves through the vein, under the crease of the arm into the vein that leads directly into the heart. And then you just hold up the legs and you squeeze the blood manually, into the tube from the arms and the legs. There’s a little shaking and pounding at the end for the dregs. It isn’t perfect…There’s a little blood left, I’m afraid. But the overall effect is…astonishing. And isn’t that really what counts in the end? Good show Lieutenant. The effect. And then, off comes the head without spilling one single drop of blood. Now, I call that Showmanship, lieutenant. Then, of course, no one notices Pearls before-“ and with that Kinderman snaps, punching and breaking his nose. Even then, the only response he gets is a mild one of amusement. “A few boos from the gallery, I see. That’s all right, I understand. I’ve been dull. Well…I shall liven things up for you a bit, lieutenant. The master is…throwing me a scrap from his table. A little reward for faithful service. Something fun…something random, something my way.” With that the man begins to slowly pass out and Kinderman backs out of the cell. More troubled and confused. As he steps out and tells the nurse that Patient X had passed out in his sell, prompting the nurse to ask “again?” as she rushes in to assist him. Noting he was hemorrhaging. Meanwhile Kinderman is confiding in the other officer, telling them the man in that cell new intimate details of a Gemini murder never reported to the press. It just further serves to puzzle him how this man, he see’s as his long dead friend could know these things.

What’s more though, is his curiosity toward the nurses observation that this isn’t the first time he’d passed out, deciding to ask her about it. Coming to find out, that this week the patient had been found on several days passed out. Noting that the first time it happened was Sunday, and then the day after, and the last time, was the night of Father Dyers murder. He ask the nurse of when it happens he enters a normal sleep, or appears to be fine, “Nothing’s normal about that man. It’s quite unusual. His autonomic system slows to a crawl. His heartbeat, his temperature, breathing. All slows down. But his brain-wave activity accelerates.”

Which…is troubling, and interesting.

More interestingly though. Kinderman goes to chat with priest at the university, a good friend of Dyer’s, he’s asking him about, the funeral of Father Karras. He wanted to know who was the last man to see Karras, how the body was prepared, who did the examination and such. We find out it was a tall elderly priest, Brother Fain. He said that he was the last man to see the body and prepare it for the funeral. After that, he left. No one had seen him since then. They all assumed because of his age and such that he senses the end was near, and that he’d simply left to spend the rest of his time with family. They’d found he died of two heart attacks though.

Kinderman considers all of this, and informs the priest. That they did an autopsy, on the body. They found inside the coffin we saw earlier. The body of a tall, elderly man. That had suffered not two, but three heart attacks, not two. The man died of literal fright.

More troubling though, and interesting. But mostly trouble. Actually it’s creepy as hell. We are at the moment that earned this film its fame. The movie may not be for everyone, it might not be full of enough horror or gore for some. But everyone admits this, this is worth the wait in the film. Well we’re coming up to that. So. Get pumped. I guess??

It’s the night shift and things are petty quiet. A nurse is at her station and chatting with the guards stationed there per Kinderman’s orders. It’s a boring night which honestly most night shifts are honestly. I used to bring a portable dvd player and a stack of movies with me at a call center. Well she does not have this luxury. Instead she has a desk, some company. And a few patience she needs to check in on occasionally.

Like right now in fact. Because she noticed a light turn on in one of the patience rooms and that’s a bit odd, Also odd was their door was half closed when it needs to be fully closed. So she goes off to investigate, thankfully finding nothing really out of the ordinary. Until the patient in the room decides to jump scare the shit out of her and the rest of us by growling out that he just wants to get a bit of quiet sleep in there.

Properly startled and appropriately done with all this shit. The nurse leaves the room and closes the door this time. She also proceeds to check another room, the supply room as the light had been left on in there as well. But she has to unlock it first. While she does so and checks on the room, the police stationed outside are beginning their rotation. So the two guards she had made conversation with are headed out, while a new batch will be arriving in a few moments. She exists the room, closes and locks the door. Then proceeds down the hall to begin her rounds.

Only as she turns to swiftly walk away and start the rounds. The door she locked just as swiftly flies open, and directly behind her, with alarming pace stalks a figure robed entirely in white, holding the large silver medical sheers at the womans neck.

If you have to clean your pants out, its understandable. Again, no matter how many times I’ve sen it, it still always gets me. And everyone else. The movie really is known for having this, the creepiest jumpscare in a horror movie. It really is and especially when you actually DO focus on what the nurse is doing. It’s one thing if you just look at it as stuff happening in the backgrounds, waiting for something else to happen. Especially since we had one jump scare, you’d figure that was that. But hell no. They had that trick waiting up their sleeves as well. Bless their hearts.

Kinderman is told, that the woman not only had her head taken. She was cut completely in half. Her vital organs pulls out, perfectly preserved, and instead, roseries were stuffed into her body, Full catholic rosary necklaces stuffed into the body, and the body sticked back up.

“Did you get my message?”, Patient X smiles in his cell up at Kinderman, who is once again seeing him after this recent murder. He again ask Kinderman if the papers have been calling these murders Gemini killings. Especially after his latest display. But before he can be told no once more. He decides to address something for Kingerman.

“About this body of mine, friend of yours? Well, there I was…so awfully dead in that electric chair. I didn’t like it, would you? It’s upsetting. There was still so much killing to do, and there I was. In the void without a body. But then along came, the master. He thought my work should continue, but in this body. This body in particular. Oooh, let’s call it revenge. A certain matter of an exorcism I think, in which your friend father Karras expelled certain parties from the body of a child. Certain parties were not pleased, to say the least. To say the very least. And so the master devised this pretty little scheme as a way of getting back…of creating a stumbling block, a scandal, a horror to the eyes of all men who seek faith. Using the body of this saintly priest as an instrument of, well, you know my work. But the main thing…is the torment of your friend Father Karras. As he watches while I rip! And cut! And mutilate the innocent! His friends! And again! And Again! And on and on! He is inside with us! He will never get away! His pain won’t end!”, he might…have lost himself a bit in the end. Just…well okay a lot. But he’s got demons in there and that body is a bit like grand central station currently. But he has begun to confirm what Kinderman had thought, and seen but could not believe. That this thing, is indeed Father Karras.

“Oh, gracious me, was I raving? Please forgive me. Let’s see where was I, oh yes…the master. He brought me to our mutual acquaintance. Father Karras. Not too well at the time, I’m afraid. He was passing on in the dying mode as we say. So…as Karras was about to slip out of his body, the master was slipping me in. I mean he was dead. His time was up. He wanted out but I was in. A little traumatizing? True. I mean, after all, his brain was jelly, lack of oxygen and everything. It took maximum effort that at last got me out of that cheap coffin.” Kinderman, taking all this in, staring in shock as he’s told how his friend had died. Sacrificing himself to save Regan only to end up tortured and kept from his final rest. How the demon moved into his body the soul of the Gemini Killer, to allow him to continue killing in the devils name. But he wasn’t done with Kinderman just, he had one last bit of fun to share with him, “Toward the end, a little slapstick, and comic relief. When that old…brother Fain, who was tending the body, saw me climbing from the coffin. It’s the smiles that keep us going, don’t you think? The little giggles and bits of good cheer.”,

So, yes. He did kill the man tending to Father Karras’s body. The mans third and fatal heart attack, seeing his friend Karras rising from their coffin and living once more. From there he lumbered the body out of the church and into the streets. Wondering aimlessly. The body had severe brain damage, it was nearly past resurrection. It took the demon and Gemini 15 years to regenerate his brain cells and begin controlling his body. Moving him out of his catatonic state. But even with that. How would he be performing the murders?. He never leaves his cell. Unless someone was working with him to let him out, perhaps. So Kinderman ask him point blank. If he has someone letting him out. If he…has the power to let himself out?, Patient X, the man formerly Damian Karras tells him smugly “Just old friends, old friends…tell the press that I am the Gemini lieutenant. Final…warning.”

Kinderman won’t budge and especially with the idea now in his head that the body of Karras his best friend is made to suffer while the soul of a sadistic killer rules over him. He parts the cell and goes over everything he’s just been told, the tormenting. The murders, could this all be real or someone playing in his head with facts they could’ve picked up back then given the circus surround the MacNeal situation. The man who didn’t believe in god now finds himself deeply questioning his faith and belief. But he still has one realization left. As he’s brought back from his own head, and hears a man shuffling his feet moving past him. He begins looking around the entire wars of catatonic and elderly patients. Soon connecting what he was told. Old friends. As he studies the room he notices the head nurse is missing. As he wonders about the room however. We see for ourselves his conclusion brought to life. As Kinderman roams the ward, above him, crawling along the ceiling. Is the elderly woman who would talk about her invisible radio and hearing dead spirits through it. She grins menacingly at Kinderman and takes off for a room just as the head nurse enters, shutting the door behind them.

Moments later she walks out of the room, dressed in the nurses outfit, and is headed out to a taxi with a large bag. Kinderman finds the body of the dead nurse and immediately rushes out of the hospital. As he races outside it strikes him, he both doesn’t know where they could have gone. But at the same time, knows exactly where. It threatened to harm him earlier, and issued its final warning just then to him. It was headed to his home.

He rushes to his families home only to find. Everyone is calm and happy. His wife however wishes he had told them earlier a nurse would be coming by the house. And there sitting at his dinner table is the elderly catatonic woman. Telling Kinderman she’s tired, and wants to know when bed time is. He begins to relax himself, thinking it was still just a warning and the woman was back to her old self now.

But as he turns from her, he hears the Gemini’s voice again, “Catatonics are so easy to possess. I’ve been waiting for you, lieutenant. I wanted you to see this.”, with that, the old woman pulls from her bag, the large medical sheers. Opening them with ease and holding them to the neck of Kinderman’s teenage daughter. He rushes over and barely is able to pull her free before the blades snap shut. The old woman growls out like an animal and rushes Kinderman. Choking him. But the demon calls her off, and just like that, the woman passes out and the family is left in a deep state of shock.

This is the biggest divergence in the film from the original theatrical cut. By this point. The church has decided to bring in an exorcist and an exorcism is performed in the film which, does not go well. At all. It leads to a very cinematic conclusion with a lot of horror and gore. Which. The director did not like at all. He wanted a simpler, more in character, truer to his story ending.

Kinderman returns to the hospital, and the ward where Patient X sits in wait. He instructs the nurse to open the door, and lock the door behind him. As he enters Patient X stares back smiling, asking if he understands now. Kinderman stares back with resolve, and digs to find the strength for what he must do. He pulls out his revolver, aiming it at the man, “Pray for me Damien…you’re free.” With that he shoots him twice in the chest, as the body slumps over to its side, and the man murmurs silently. Kinderman walks up to him and places the revolver to his head, firing once more. And with that, the movie is over.

Yep. Just like that. It’s over. No grand finale, no resolve. It just follows the books end perfectly. Which really isn’t that perfect for everyone. It makes it seem less like a horror, and more a psychological thriller. But it still works. Really. Just not in the same way the theatrical does.

The theatrical gives us a last action ride and showdown with the devil, the gemini, and Father Karras fighting to save his soul and friend. But even that ending was way over the top. But it still gave a more theatrical cinematic ending to the film. Versus a literal translation from the book.

The reason why I loved the Exorcist film and book, and Legion the book and film. Is because in the original. It’s never clearly stated until the very end, whether or not Regan was possessed. It was always left sort of up to the reader to interpret the signs and what they thought they believed. There was always enough evidence to suggest it was something else. But then by the end you are made absolutely sure and shown it is evil at work. Legion worked much the same way. Which is something I will give credit to the theatrical cut for. In the book Kinderman believes who he see’s to be father Karras. But no one else sees that. It’s something the theatrical cut played with when they reshot the scenes with Brad Dourif. They would switch between actors who was the main ‘presence’ or voice at the time. Dourif was used for the Gemini, and the original actor who played Karras, Jason Miller, was used for the rest. It also was done to help people relate more to what was going on and give faces to the voices.

The only….real down side to that, and why it didn’t really work too well. Was that unfortunately Jason Miller, was an alcoholic, and he was drunk on set every day. No one wanted to work with him, it was impossible to get much of anything out of him, and he was difficult. But they wanted to use him so that you’d have the real Father karras there. It’s just unfortunate the man was where he was with his life. It could’ve really turned out to be something much better in either result.

Instead we have a very good theatrical sequel that works cinematically as a follow up to the Exorcist. And we have a direct sequel that’s more fitting of the books and works on that level.

I’m not really so much a fan of the abrupt end, though it makes sense, and it also still ends the same theatrically, just. With a large loud and gross exorcism. I mostly love the Legion cut more because Brad Dourif’s scenes. They’re fleshed out a lot more. Like I said and you’ve seen by now. The movie is very dialog heavy and in this case it’s beautiful with Dourif because the man just plays insane so damn well. I’d go so far as to say you wouldn’t need Jason to play Karras in the film because Dourif just effortlessly goes from calm, slimy evil to raging psychopath and chuckling menace like he’s breathing. Its beautiful to see and having more of that, and a cell that looks just as evil as the being inside the man. I just enjoy it a lot more. But one thing that did not change thankfully for either version of the film. Whichever you choose to embrace. Is the music.

The Music.

Why the hell would this music be worthy, and not the original. Oh boy.

Barry De Vorzon, is the man who gave us the Warriors score. Which damn right you should be glad for. It’s amazing, He also contributed to The Twilight Zone, Kojack, and Event Horizon. He also scored the soul sequel of sorts, to The Exorcist known as The Ninth Configuration. Which yes, it is a connected film as it tells about the Astronaut Regan mentioned in the first film that would die in space.

I chose this films score because it achieved what we’ve discussed before. Which is building on top of the original. He took the familiar and added his own unique touches to it. Without using one piece of music. Everything he did for the soundtrack was largely sound effect driven and composed. He used animalistic growls and dragged them out, added reverb. Made melodies out of whispers and clips from the original. He wanted to create a very natural, and very evil sound. Which, god help the man he did. The music scared the shit out of me as a kid. It still gets under my skin as an adult too. Especially during the night. Not gonna lie, it really does. It just carries this really surreal evil to it, and a vibe that just resonates through. The only real music to speak of used in the film are actual songs used sparingly in their moment. Even the titular “Tubular Bells” is sparingly used and for good reason. Playing it directly at the start, right as the fog begins to part from the infamous stares of the first film. It only plays several notes of the song before becoming overwhelmed and devoured by the near beast like humming and growl. Leading up to the church  just moments before a loud effect is thrashed out and Jesus’s eyes open, flinging the large church doors open and beginning the film.

Not using music and going with something like this instead. Especially with a title so well known and still one of the larger horror successes at the time. It takes balls. The man had wanted to work on these films for the longest time and he finally got his chance, and this was the end result.

It just lends to the film this eerie sense of us observing the story from the point of view of a malignant spirit. Hearing its frustrations play out at certain points, and its evil joy during the murders.

There’s never been a release of the album. The only thing you will ever find is simply the opening track. The film itself, in both versions, remains the only way you can experience it for yourself. As well you should. Even the original Exorcist was very bare in terms of tracks they created and used. They really wanted to go with a minimalist approach and as well they used sound effects or sharp violin stings for most of the score. Just this time around, the score is more deeply seeded in the evil it has to show. Where the first film only hinted, glimpsed at what lay under the skin.

It’s a very beautiful film and horrific at times score. Both paired well and I really can’t recommend one cut over the other honestly. Especially if you’ve never seen the film before. It really can make an impression on you depending which you see but in the end? If I really had to choose? I’d say the theatrical first. Only because it’s the most polished, and, you may gain something more after you see the Legion cut after. For the longest time all we had was the theatrical.

So knowing another cut was made, and not only that, but that they managed to include more from the composer? Just makes me all the happier.

Please DO check out the movie, either version, and take in the score. As always let me know what you think and until tomorrow, Don’t worry the film won’t make you into a killer like Dahmer, who had said this film was his favorite movie of all time.

Also never ignore headless holy statues in buildings. Ever.