The Exorcist III (1990)
66%RT Audience Score: 56%
Awards & Nominations: 2 wins & 5 nominations
The Exorcist III is a talky, literary sequel with some scary moments that rival anything from the original
The Exorcist III is a movie that will leave you feeling like you just went through an exorcism yourself. While some critics found it frustrating and lacking in scares, I found it to be a humdinger of a horror film. George C. Scott delivers a soulfully pained performance as detective Kinderman, and Brad Dourif’s madman monologs are downright incomprehensible in the best way possible. Sure, some of the horrors are described rather than shown, but that just leaves more to the imagination. And let’s be real, who needs jump scares when you have a dialectic of intellectual debate and the recitation of prayers? All in all, The Exorcist III may not be as visceral as the first film, but it’s a devilishly good time.
Production Company(ies)
New Line Cinema, Partizan Films, Partizan
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Streaming, Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
The Tombs – 1226 36th Street NW, Georgetown, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
MPAA / Certificate
R
Year of Release
1990
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Streaming): Sep 23, 2014
Genre(s)
Horror
Keyword(s)
starring George C Scott, Ed Flanders, Brad Dourif, Jason Miller, Nicol Williamson, Scott Wilson, Carter DeHaven, James G Robinson, directed by William Peter Blatty, written by William Peter Blatty, horror, R rating, box office performance, $25.0M gross USA, reviewed by Anton Bitel, A.A Dowd, Kim Newman, Robert C Cumbow, Owen Gleiberman, Variety Staff, David Nusair, Michael Coldwell, TV Guide Staff, Brad Miska, Tim Brayton, police investigation, serial killer, mental patient, exorcism, Gemini killer, Father Dyer, Father Morning, Dr Temple, scary moments, literary sequel, hauntingly understated, sound-and-fury finale, dark rooms, intellectual debate, ritual litany, prayers, unnamable, talky
Worldwide gross: $39,024,251
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $89,966,093
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,072
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 9,810,915
US/Canada gross: $26,098,824
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $60,167,951
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 988
US/Canada opening weekend: $9,312,219
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $21,468,291
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 618
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Ed Flanders – Father Dyer
Brad Dourif – The Gemini Killer
Jason Miller – Patient X
Nicol Williamson – Father Morning
Scott Wilson – Dr. Temple
Director(s)
William Peter Blatty
Writer(s)
William Peter Blatty
Producer(s)
Carter DeHaven, James G. Robinson
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
2 wins & 5 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (41) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (24) | Rotten (17)
Watching The Exorcist III is a frustrating experience, with both cuts of the film – one a victim of studio tampering, the other imperfectly restored – pointing to the better version of themselves that, like Karras, remains hidden within.
December 9, 2019
Anton Bitel
Little White Lies
TOP CRITIC
Against his will, Blatty added the sound-and-fury finale, and it’s easily the weakest aspect of his movie. But that’s mainly because everything that comes before it is so hauntingly understated.
October 8, 2018
A.A. Dowd
AV Club
TOP CRITIC
Too much of the movie takes place in dark rooms where people describe horrors that might more profitably have been on the screen, and the plot is a house of cards that constantly collapses.
October 8, 2018 | Rating: 2/5
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Blatty is interested in the words most of all: the dialectic of intellectual debate, the ritual litany of naming, the recitation of prayers. To name something is to tame it; Blatty is interested in our eternal struggle with the unnamable.
October 8, 2018
Robert C. Cumbow
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
September 7, 2011 | Rating: F
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
TOP CRITIC
It would be downright incomprehensible, in fact, if Dourif didn’t do such a dandy job in explaining things in a couple of long, madman monologs.
July 6, 2010
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
…a pervasively hit-and-miss sequel that certainly stands as an obvious improvement over the mostly unwatchable second installment.
March 14, 2021 | Rating: 2.5/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
[George C. Scott] delivers a soulfully pained performance as detective Kinderman from the first movie.
December 28, 2019 | Rating: 8/10
Michael Coldwell
Starburst
May not have the visceral impact of the first film, but it gives viewers far more than they had any reason to expect.
October 8, 2018 | Rating: 3/5
TV Guide Staff
TV Guide
Brad Dourif’s full performance as the Gemini Killer.
October 8, 2018
Brad Miska
Bloody Disgusting
Suggests that Blatty had seen and loved many films without ever really paying attention to how they worked.
July 22, 2013 | Rating: 6/10
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
Exorcist III wields a mighty sword of scares and contemplation, drilling into those primal areas of nail-chewing tension…This film is a humdinger.
August 22, 2010 | Rating: A-
Brian Orndorf
BrianOrndorf.com…
Plot
A seemingly endless series of grisly killings that bear the trademark of the mass murderer, the Gemini Killer, terrorise the district of Georgetown. To further complicate matters, even though it’s been seventeen long years since the killer’s execution and that fateful night of pure terror in The Exorcist (1973), the sceptical police officer, Lieutenant William F. Kinderman, is still obsessed with solving the baffling case, as the death toll keeps rising. In the meantime, in the city’s high-security psychiatric institution, a cryptic inmate who bears an uncanny resemblance to the late Father Damien Karras emerges from his deep catatonic state, claiming that he has all the answers Kinderman needs. But, who is the mysterious Patient X? Does the same unholy force that tormented Regan MacNeil have something to do with the brutal demonic murders?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
No goofy or funny or odd comments were found in the Fresh Kernels review for The Exorcist III.
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