The Exorcist III (1990) on Netflix
In Georgetown, fifteen years after Regan MacNeil's exorcism, Lieutenant William F. Kinderman is called to a murder. Thomas Kintry's head has been replaced with the head of a statue of Jesus.
- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.5/1042,745 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes59%
Trailer
Plot summary
Father Joseph Dyer and Lieutenant William F. Kinderman meet in Georgetown and remember Father Damien Karras, fifteen years after the exorcism of Regan MacNeil. That night an incident at a church indicates something supernatural: the Christ figure on a crucifix opens its eyes, and a man on the street describes a dream in which he fell down a long staircase. Kinderman is summoned to a murder scene the next morning, where Thomas Kintry, a Black youth, has been decapitated, a statue's head left where his own should be. A priest, Father Kanavan, is then murdered in the confessional and also decapitated. No fingerprints match between the two scenes, so the police conclude that different people carried out the killings.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Exorcist III (1990)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was designed as a standalone adaptation of Blatty's novel, but Morgan Creek's last-minute demands, bringing back a key cast member from the 1973 film and adding an exorcism sequence for the climax, made the final cut an official series entry, to Blatty's frustration.
- Blatty said he and Morgan Creek were in a Mexican stand-off: he was entitled to one preview, after which the studio could do what it wanted with the picture, and the preview audience was "the lowest end" he had ever seen, "they dragged in zombies from Haiti to watch this film."
- Brad Dourif first played both Damien Karras and the Gemini Killer, but was re-cast with Jason Miller; when Miller's severe alcoholism stopped him reciting his scenes, Blatty called Dourif back, who agreed on condition he got a hotel room to rehearse with an acting assistant.
- The film became a focal point of the trial of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, where detectives testified that Dahmer identified with the Gemini Killer and played the film for some of his victims before killing them.
- Blatty, who wanted the film to keep the title of his novel, blamed its poor box office on the Exorcist III name imposed by Morgan Creek; producer Carter DeHaven and Blatty protested the studio's insistence on the word Exorcist.
- Blu-ray producer Cliff MacMillan said the film assets from the original shoot were lost to time, so William Peter Blatty's intended version was assembled from VHS tapes of the film's dailies, with scenes from the theatrical re-shoot used to fill the gaps.
