Exorcist 3 Review (1990) Worth Watching?

It's about a police investigation to catch a demonic supernatural serial killer.

Exorcist 3 was directed by William Peter Blatty and stars George C. Scott (from The Murders In The Rue Morgue and Firestarter), Ed Flanders (from The Ninth Configuration) and Brad Dourif (from Child's Play, Graveyard Shift, Halloween, Nightwatch, Herbert West: Reanimator and Wildling).

Do you dare walk these steps again?

Exorcist 3 starts 15 years after the original Exorcist where cops are investigating an elusive serial killer known as the Gemini Killer. The police chief is a good friend with a local priest who's close to the case and who also knew Father Merrin, the main priest from The Exorcist who killed himself after being possessed by Pazuzu.

One Gemini victim, the focal point of this movie, was a black guy who was decapitated and crucified. In place of his head was the head from a Jesus statue, painted in black face. Gemini's next victim was a priest, murdered him in his confessional in the middle of the day. The next was another priest, killed in the hospital and drained of every ounce of his blood. But the thing is, Gemini had already been fried in the electric chair 15 years prior. So what gives? 30 minutes in and this movie is already more exciting than both The Exorcist and Exorcist 2.

The investigation surrounding the murders and the hunt for Gemini make up the bulk of Exorcist 3. But the mounting dread and constant presence of the supernatural make it feel like an Exorcist movie and firmly root it in horror.

There's another movie called Fallen that Exorcist 3 reminds me a lot of. In Fallen, a prolific serial killer is caught and given the chair. But shortly after his execution the murders start again, murders that match the serial killers exact M.O. The cops think it must be some kind of copycat, but it turns out to be a demon who can jump from body to body at will. Fallen happens to be one of my favorite movies along with Exorcist 3, both execute the supernatural serial killer thing so well.

I've seen both the theatrical version and the director's cut of Exorcist 3 (called Legion), and although most people claim Legion to be the best version, this is one of the rare cases where the theatrical is way better. Legion splices in a lot of poor quality and unmastered clips to fill in all the gaps, but all it does is pull you out of the movie. I personally didn't find any new important details in the director's cut that made the theatrical incomplete. Of course, it's an incredible horror either way, so watch it however you can.

Worth Watching?

Without a doubt. Exorcist 3 is one of the better sequels in all of horror (Exorcist 2 was the first sequel, but fell short of anything that could be considered worthy of a follow up to The Exorcist). It also has one of the all time best jumpscares in all of horror. You don't even need to watch the original first, this movie makes a great standalone horror all its own.

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