One of the most debated aspects of the classic 1973 horror filmThe Exorcisthas to do with the film’s ending, which has been interpreted by some people as being hopeful, with Regan MacNeil being saved from demonic possession, while others view the ending with pessimism, specifically in terms of how Regan MacNeil’s exorcism resulted in the deaths of Father Damien Karras and Father Lankester Merrin.
Regardless, there is undeniable solace to be found in the incredible self-sacrifice of Jason Miller’s Karras, who frees Regan by imploring the demon Pazuzu to enter the body of Karras, who then jumps out of Regan’s bedroom window and dies, though not before Karras’s close friend, Father Dyer, administered last rites to a dying Karras, who was then seemingly poised to enter the kingdom of heaven.
However, the 1990 film sequelThe Exorcist III, director-writer William Peter Blatty’s true sequel toThe Exorcist, opens with the premise that Karras’s soul didn’t actually escape the control of Pazuzu, who, as revenge for being exorcised by Karras, enabled the Gemini Killer, a serial killer who was executed at the same time that Karras died, to inhabit Karras’s body while Karras lay dying at the end ofThe Exorcist.
Moreover,The Exorcist III, which is based on Blatty’s 1983 novelLegion, reveals that by taking control of Karras’s soul, through the Gemini Killer, Pazuzu is able to enjoy torturing Karras, who is forced to watch Gemini commit unspeakable acts through Karras’s agonized earthly body.
The Gemini Killer
InThe Exorcist III, which takes place fifteen years after the ending ofThe Exorcistand completely ignores the events of the1977 sequelExorcist II: The Heretic, homicide detective William Kinderman, played by George C. Scott, investigates a series of ritualistic murders that reflect the style of James Venamun, better known as the Gemini Killer, who was executed, via the electric chair, fifteen years earlier, at the exact same time when Damien Karras died.
However, while the murders follow the modus operandi of the long-dead Gemini, played by Brad Dourif, the physical evidence at the murder scenes only generates dread and puzzlement, as none of the fingerprints correlate to any single killer.
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Indeed, throughout the first hour ofThe Exorcist III, Kinderman seems to be chasing a killer who has both the elusiveness of a ghost and the precision of a master surgeon, as evidenced, most chillingly, by the fact that each of the first three murder victims were injected with a paralyzing drug that rendered them completely immobile and silent, though entirely aware, while the killer mutilated them.
Moreover, Kinderman also discovers that the murders are linked to the exorcism of Regan MacNeil, specifically in terms of the question of exactly what happened to Karras, both his body and soul, after Karras expelled the demon Pazuzu from Regan’s body and then committed suicide.
The Regan MacNeil Connection
While Regan MacNeil doesn’tappear inThe Exorcist III, the film is nonetheless grounded in the repercussions of Regan’s exorcism, which is directly attached to the film’s primary murder victims, each of whom is linked to the exorcism and have, accordingly, been targeted by the demon Pazuzu, through the Gemini Killer, as revenge for Pazuzu’s previous defeat.
The first murder victim inThe Exorcist IIIis a twelve-year-old boy whose mother previously deciphered the tapes of Pazuzu speaking through Regan and determined that the speech was English being spoken backward, while the second murder victim is Father Kanavan, the priest who authorized Regan’s exorcism.
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The third victim is Father Joseph Dyer, who is murdered in a hospital room, where Dyer’s entire bloody supply was drained and then placed, in precisely equal doses, in specimen jars without even a single spilled drop of blood.
Moreover, as Kinderman’s investigation takes him into the hospital’s psychiatric ward, inside one of the psychiatric cells, Kinderman sees a patient called Patient X, who looks and sounds just like Damien Karras.
A Compelling (And Underrated) Sequel
Theoriginal filmed versionofThe Exorcist IIIdidn’t include an exorcism sequence, as the film originally ended with William Kinderman freeing Damien Karras from the clutches of the Gemini Killer by simply entering the psychiatric cell of Patient X and abruptly shooting and fatally wounding Karras, who appears visibly here as Brad Dourif’s Gemini, and then presiding over Karras’s proper cemetery burial.
However, production company Morgan Creek Productions demanded the inclusion of an exorcism sequence for the film’s theatrical release, which features a rather hastily organized exorcism of Karras that’s performed by a priest named Father Morning, who is subsequently mortally wounded but enables Karras to regain control of Karras’s body long enough to ask Kinderman to kill Karras, whom Kinderman subsequently shoots twice in the chest before firing a final mercy shot in Karras’s head.
While neither of these endings is entirely satisfactory, as indeed both endings give the film a sense of incompleteness, the theatrical ending is much more effective, as this ending provides the welcome satisfaction of seeing an end to the unimaginable suffering of Karras, whose soul is now seemingly free to enter heaven, whereasBlatty’s original endingunfolds as a swift execution, which is especially lacking in emotional impact due to Jason Miller’s absence.
However, while the tacked-on nature of the ending ofThe Exorcist IIIprevents the film from attaining masterpiece status and being the overall equal ofThe Exorcist, the mishandling of the ending ofThe Exorcist IIIshouldn’t detract from an otherwisefascinating and terrifying film, which deserves to be regarded as being both a masterful study of undiluted evil and a worthy successor toThe Exorcist.
