William Peter Blatty was not involved in Exorcist II: The Heretic and he was quite unhappy with the result. He wrote his own sequel instead and called it "Legion." Upon filming it in 1990, Blatty was distressed when he wasn't allowed to release his own version. Instead, some extra scenes were filmed for a gory ending, none of which really befitted Blatty's original idea of an intellectual horror film that would be chilling because of the ideas rather than the special effects.

But surprisingly, this movie still works very well. It involves a side-character from the first movie, police detective Kinderman. Fifteen years after the events of The Exorcist, a series of bizarre ritual murders suggest that the demon that possessed Regan McNeill may not have been completely expelled. Kinderman discovers that the murders are connected to The Gemini Killer, who allegedly died fifteen years ago. Things get a bit complicated from here on, but the main thrust of the movie is a confrontation between Kinderman and a possessed patient in the local mental institution.

This movie is at its best in the realm of ideas and debate. The best scenes are made of the discussions between Kinderman (George C. Scott, The Changeling) and his friend, Father Dyer (Ed Flanders), who delivered the last rites to Father Karras at the end of the original movie. Blatty is very good at disturbing the viewer with sinister dialogue -- an extended explanation of the mechanics of murder without spilling a drop of blood is particularly unnerving. He also wrote excellent one-liners for Scott and Flanders to bounce off of each other. But there are also a few brilliant jump scares, neither of which have the slightest bit of gore in them, but are nonetheless quite unforgettable.

The actors really eat up Blatty's dialogue, especially Scott who delivers a marvelously believable lead character for the movie. He doesn't grandstand like he did in Patton, but he serves his character instead, making him totally sympathetic. The whole cast is outstanding, many of them being Blatty's favorite actors with whom he worked in his first movie The Ninth Configuration. Brad Dourif, in particular, makes the most of a much better script than he normally gets to work with.

Technically, the film is almost flawless, with well-conceived cinematography and some superbly precise editing. Blatty's setups demonstrate imagination, but he also knows when to keep the camera focused on the actor to serve the performance. The main problem is however that the exorcism sequences are neither well written nor well directed. They were rather obviously an afterthought, and they don't seem to fit into the rest of the movie. But this is only a small price to pay for the excellence it offers. It's good to watch a movie that for once respects its audience by treating them as grownup people with functional brains instead of comatose morons, working by subtle hints rather than obvious exposition.

This movie is highly recommended for those of you who like their horror to crawl under the skin rather than be hit over the head by it. It's certainly not meant for fans of special effects and bloodshed. The Exorcist III got hurt by studio interference but still managed to survive gloriously. It 's not as engrossing or moving as the original, and it doesn't have the visual flair of the first sequel, but it 's well written, fascinating and generally well worth watching.