There has been a subtle re-writing of the friendship between Karras and Kinderman, which in turn plays into the Dyer/Kinderman friendship, which allows for some moments of humour early on. Kinderman and Father Dyer, played here by Ed Flanders, became friendly at the end of The Exorcist (in the extended version). One of things this assembly cut does do is change the story into a more personal one. While the scares still work (not changed from the theatrical version) the real power in the film comes from the exchanges between Patient X and Kinderman and Dourif and the excellent George C. Despite most of his performance here coming from video and some film footage, Dourif’s performance is sensational. In Legion however, the role is only played by Brad Dourif. The film cuts between both at times and does it very well it has to be said. In the theatrical version, the role is shared by Jason Miller (Karras in The Exorcist) and Brad Dourif. wise they don’t make a lot of changes to the finished film.īut the biggest change is in Patient X. There are other changes too, the opening is different, certain scenes moved around, others extended and so on. Instead the film builds to a surprisingly low key, more personal ending, although it does lose a terrific speech from Kinderman about belief. No Father Morning, no last minute appearance to try and exorcise Patient X. So, what has changed? Well, the biggest change is that the entire exorcism plot has gone. That version is now on an Arrow Video Blu-Ray, alongside the theatrical version of the film. The assembled cut used video, some filmed footage to try and make as close a version to the film Blatty had intended. Despite the removed footage from Legion not being found, in 2016, the company Scream Factory released a version of the film.
When I first found out, like many fans, I wondered how the finished, original take on the film called Legion, would look like. Each time I’ve seen the film since, it has only reinforced that opinion.Īt the time, I was unaware of what went on behind the scenes, of how Blatty was forced to make changes to his film, involving re-shoots and some changes in casting. Personally, while The Exorcist is certainly the better film overall, I think this part III was a scarier film. I saw it on its original release and loved it (Blatty writing and directing the film himself). As the investigation continues, he comes face to face with a hospital patient that looks like a man who died fifteen years earlier, performing an exorcism…īased on William Peter Blatty’s own follow up novel to The Exorcist, which was called Legion, The Exorcist III came out in 1990. Lieutenant Kinderman investigates a series of murders that bear the mark of the Gemini Killer who was executed fifteen years earlier.
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