20th Century FoxAlthough there are five official sequels (including two versions of the same movie) and a TV show, The Exorcist III remains the only follow-up worthy of that vaunted horror name. Written and directed by original Exorcist author William Peter Blatty, who adapted his 1983 novel Legion, The Exorcist III (1990) is flawed, but it’s the only film since the first to explore the nature of evil and faith in a chilling metaphysical context. Even the studio's late-stage tampering couldn't sabotage an excellent, underrated coda that takes the ideas of the original film in a new direction.Blatty originally wanted original Exorcist director William Friedkin to helm the picture, but when Friedkin passed, Blatty insisted on directing himself. He also wanted to retain Legion as the title to avoid any connection to John Boorman’s disastrous 1977 film Exorcist II: The Heretic, but was overruled by the production company behind the project, Morgan Creek. It wouldn’t be the last time they interfered.If The Exorcist was about the power of faith, The Exorcist III is about evil’s need to assert its presence. Fifteen years after the exorcism of Regan MacNeil, Detective Bill Kinderman, who was peripherally involved in The Exorcist, investigates a series of brutal murders connected not only to the MacNeil case, but a string of similar crimes perpetrated by the long-dead Gemini Killer.The new murders, which appear to be committed by different people, quickly turn personal for Kinderman (George C. Scott). His friend and fellow Exorcist holdover Father Dyer (Ed Flanders) is one of the victims, each of whom is linked to the MacNeil possession. And when a psychiatric patient comes out of a catatonic state and claims to be the Gemini Killer, Kinderman discovers that the man is inexplicably Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), who sacrificed himself to save little Regan all those years ago.It seems “the Master” has allowed Gemini’s spirit to inhabit Karras’ resurrected body as revenge for Karras saving Regan, with the Gemini returning to his murderous ways by hijacking the ward’s dementia patients as vessels for his rampage. In a cinematically risky move, the Gemini is played by Brad Dourif (the longtime voice of Chucky), who’s onscreen when the Gemini speaks, although Kinderman only sees Karras, and the audience sees Jason Miller when the Gemini isn’t speaking. Dourif was initially going to play both the Gemini and the recast Karras, until Morgan Creek insisted that Miller appear, despite being in the throes of severe alcoholism.Blatty’s original climax was relatively low-key: after saving his daughter from one of the Gemini’s attacks, the formerly skeptical Kinderman, now a believer in the existence of supernatural evil, shoots Karras dead in his cell, freeing him from the grip of the Gemini and his “Master.” Once again, executives objected, as any movie with the word Exorcist in the title had to have an exorcism in it. So Blatty quickly wrote and filmed new scenes with a new character, Father Morning (Nicol Williamson), who arrives to perform the Roman Ritual on Karras.Rather than relying on shock value, The Exorcist III is a dark and moody film. | 20th Century FoxLaden with visual effects, the sequence seems out of place in such an otherwise restrained, slow-burning movie. But Blatty still manages to get the film to the same conclusion: Morning is killed, but survives long enough to reawaken the soul of Karras, who begs Kinderman to shoot him. Having witnessed the existence of evil in the cell during Morning’s exorcism, a devastated Kinderman obliges.Despite continuity errors, a sometimes-murky narrative, and its disjointed third act, The Exorcist III is a superb horror movie. It’s laced with real ideas, populated by likably eccentric characters (Scott’s performance, in particular, is both hammy and oddly vulnerable), oozes atmosphere, and features some genuinely frightening moments, including the now-classic murder of a nurse in a long-take scene that explodes with tension.It’s an unusual film that’s found an audience over the years, which is more than the franchise’s other entries can boast. Exorcist II remains an incoherent mess, while neither version of a fourth film — 2004’s Exorcist: The Beginning and 2005’s Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist — is satisfying on any level. Fox’s short-lived TV series, The Exorcist, was greeted with some acclaim, but the most recent theatrical offering, David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer (2023), merely regurgitates ideas and imagery from the original.The Exorcist III is a much more cerebral, talky film than The Exorcist, although both share a heady interest in philosophical and spiritual themes that set them apart from the rest of the franchise, and most Hollywood horror in general. The Exorcist III also relies more on the power of suggestion than its predecessor, as most of the film’s violence is implied or described. As befitting its authorship, it remains the only movie in the franchise to feel like a true sequel, and an intriguing, disquieting genre exercise in its own right.