“Boorman and the Devil” Compels You

Boorman and the Devil (David Kittredge, 2025) 4 out of 5 stars

Of this I am certain: one need not be a fan of a movie to enjoy its making-of tale. Especially when that documentary is more than a compendium of trivia, becoming instead a rumination on art and its place in the world. Such is David Kittredge’s Boorman and the Devil, which chronicles the production of one of the worst films I have ever seen, Exorcist II: The Heretic.

It begins with a Hanif Kureishi quote: “The artist must live on the edge of failure. There can be no omniscience; any work could be a triumph, disaster or a bit of both.” With a track record of highs and lows, filmmaker John Boorman would no doubt agree with those thoughts. Through works that range from Point Blank to Deliverance to Zardoz to Excalibur to Hope and Glory, The Tailor of Panama, and many others, this British director has known magnificent success and ignominious failure. His absolute nadir was without question the sequel to William Friedkin’s 1973 devil-possession horror hit The Exorcist.

Until earlier this week, I had never seen Exorcist II. Life was good! I had only ever heard bad things. Still, there can be joy in terrible creations, so ridiculous that we find entertainment amidst the pain. Sadly, for this viewer, there was only agony.

But through online chatter—and the fact that Kittredge is a good friend to a great friend of mine—I heard about Boorman and the Devil and decided to give it a chance. After all, it had premiered in the lineup of this year’s Venice Film Festival and just two days ago played at Los Angeles’ Beyond Fest, so had to offer at least solid craftsmanship. It in fact delivers so much more than that.

Central to the narrative are the hopes and dreams of Boorman as he tackled a project in which he initially had no interest (he was not a fan of Friedkin’s original). Kittredge scores a coup with his primary interview, also adding stars Linda Blair and the late Louise Fletcher to the mix. Joining them is a vast ensemble of film critics and specialists, all weighing in with panache on the troubled history of the movie. Love or hate Exorcist II, the details of its origin prove fascinating, indeed.

Of particular note are the descriptions of the screenwriting process, Richard Burton’s drinking, Linda Blair’s thoughts on starring in the sequel, Louis Fletcher’s initial delight at being part of such a big movie, the fact that Boorman almost died from “valley fever,” the decision to shoot almost the entire film on soundstages—rather than on location—and more. Related to that last tidbit, one of the locations where the movie actually did stage a set was the top of the Warner Bros. building in Manhattan, which doubled for the apartment where Regan (Blair’s character) lives. That balcony was, apparently, as dangerous as it looks on screen.

But what raises the documentary above a mere series of anecdotes is Boorman and his belief in the power of art to transform. He may not have achieved what he wanted—audiences, as we learn, laughed when Exorcist II came out in theaters—but it’s in the attempt that the beauty lies. At least enough of it to make Boorman and the Devil a terrific story about a dreadful picture. Ambition, even if misdirected, can be awesome to behold.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Chris Reed is the editor of Film Festival Today. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.