Exorcist II: The Heretic

Exorcist II The Heretic is a 1977 American supernatural horror film directed by John Boorman and written by William Goodhart. It stars Linda Blair, Richard Burton, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, Kitty Winn, Paul Henreid, and James Earl Jones. It is a sequel to William Friedkins 1973 film The Exorcist based on the 1971 novel by William Peter Blatty. The sequel is set four years after The Exorcist, and centers on a now 16yearold Regan MacNeil who is still recovering from her previous demonic possession.

Philip Lamont, a priest struggling with his faith, attempts to exorcise a possessed South American girl who claims to heal the sick. However, the exorcism goes wrong and a lit candle sets fire to the girls dress, killing her. Afterwards, Lamont is assigned by the Cardinal to investigate the death of Father Lankester Merrin, who had been killed four years prior in the course of exorcising the Assyrian demon Pazuzu from Regan MacNeil. The Cardinal informs Lamont who has had some experience at exorcism, and has been exposed to Merrins teachings that Merrin is up on posthumous heresy charges due to his controversial writings. Apparently, Church authorities are trying to modernize and do not want to acknowledge that Satan as an actual evil entity exists.Regan, although now seemingly normal and staying with guardian Sharon Spencer in New York, N.Y., continues to be monitored at a psychiatric institute by Dr. Gene Tuskin. Regan claims she remembers nothing about her ordeal in Washington, D.C., but Tuskin believes her memories are only buried or repressed. Father Lamont visits the institute but his attempts to question Regan about the circumstances of Father Merrins death are rebuffed by Dr. Tuskin, believing that Lamonts approach would do Regan more harm than good. In an attempt to plumb her memories of the exorcism, specifically the circumstances in which Merrin died, Dr. Tuskin hypnotizes the girl, to whom she is linked by a synchronizer a biofeedback device used by two people to synchronize their brainwaves. After a guided tour by Sharon of the Georgetown house where the exorcism took place, Lamont returns to be coupled with Regan by the synchronizer. The priest is spirited to the past by Pazuzu to observe Father Merrin exorcising a young boy, Kokumo, in Africa. Learning that the boy developed special powers to fight Pazuzu, who appears as a swarm of locusts, Lamont journeys to Africa, defying his superior, to seek help from the adult Kokumo. ........

Source: Wikipedia