Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)


Linda Blair             Regan MacNeil
Richard Burton          Father Philip Lamont
Louise Fletcher         Dr Gene Tuskin
Max von Sydow           Father Merrin
Kitty Winn              Sharon Spencer
Paul Henreid            Cardinal Jaros
James Earl Jones        Older Kokumo
Ned Beatty              Edwards
Belinda Beatty          Liz
Rose Portillo           Spanish Girl
Barbara Cason           Mrs Phalor
Tiffany Kinney          Deaf Girl
Joey Green              Young Kokumo
Fiseha Dimetros         Young Monk
Ken Renard              Abbot
John Joyce (II)         Monk
Hank Garrett            Conductor

Directed by:            John Boorman, Rospo Pallenberg
Produced by:            Richard Lederer, John Boorman, Charles Orme


Richard Burton stars as exorcist Father Philip Lamont in John Boorman's sequel to THE EXORCIST. The 
cleric, who is struggling with his faith, is investigating the death of Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow), 
who was killed in the course of exorcising the Assyrian demon Pazuzu from Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair). 
Although now seemingly normal, Regan continues to be monitored at a psychiatric institute by Dr. Gene 
Tuskin (Louise Fletcher). In an attempt to plumb her memories of exorcism, Dr. Tuskin has hypnotized 
the girl, to whom she's linked by a "synchronizer" and is so overcome by "witnessing" Regan's memory 
of the event that Lamont has to rescue her. After a tour of the Georgetown house where the exorcism 
took place, Lamont returns to be coupled with Regan by synchronizer. The priest is spirited to the 
past by Pazuzu to observe Father Merrin exorcising a young boy, Kokumo (Joey Green), in Africa. 
Learning that the boy developed special powers to fight Pazuzu, who appears as a swarm of locusts, 
Lamont journeys to Africa, defying his superior, to seek help from the adult Kokumo (James Earl Jones).

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Dr. Gene Tuskin works with troubled children, perhaps none more troubled than Regan MacNeil, who suffers 
from bad dreams and repressed memories. The memories she represses are of the time she was possessed by 
a demon. Dr. Tuskin's invention, a device that hypnotizes two persons and links their minds together, 
reveals that the demon, named Pazuzu, still lurks within her. It is desperate to emerge again and wreak 
havoc. Meanwhile, Father Philip Lamont is ordered by his cardinal to investigate the death of Father 
Merrin, the priest who died while performing an exorcism on Regan. Father Lamont undertakes his task 
reluctantly. He feels unworthy of his assignment. He also feels that Evil is literally an entity and 
that this entity is winning the battle over Good. His investigation takes him to Africa where he locates 
another recipient of Merrin's exorcising and learns something fascinating and terrible about locusts.