The Exorcist III - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Exorcist III



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
It’s a once in a life time experience for a franchise to reinvigorate and re-invent itself the way that The Exorcist series has done over the years. With a new remake out this year, it’s not surprising to see Scream Factory release their 3rd film of the franchise in 4K UHD. The original The Exorcist is widely considered to be one of the greatest supernatural horror movies of the 1970s, if not all time. It was easily one of the scariest films of the era (albeit a bit tame by modern horror standards), and responsible for a whole host of remakes over the years. Will Friedkin and William Peter Blatty’s seminal film pretty much was drug through the dirt when it came to the abysmal The Exorcist II: The Heretic that came out a few short years later. At that point the powers that be basically shelved any idea of a third film, and even William Peter Blatty’s attempts at bringing his novel “Legion” to the big screen were hampered by the bad press that was the 2nd film. It wasn’t until the late 1980s when he was finally able to get a studio to sign on to his work, granting him both writing and directorial duties in an effort to not have the 2nd film’s blunders recreated (the 2nd film was a nightmare of studio interference and re-shoots), and the results are surprisingly good.

The film picks up some 15 years after the end of The Exorcist (the film basically ignores the The Heretic) with Detective Kinderman (George C. Scott taking over the role from Lee J. Cobb, who suffered a heart attack in 1976) tracking down a series of murders that brings him to the conclusion that said murders are being done by a legendary killer known as the Gemini Killer (based upon the real life Zodiac Killer). But the thing is, Kinderman watched the Gemini Killer die years ago. The deeper he digs, the more and more eerie things get as the clues that lead him straight to the killer also defy the very laws of space and time itself, resulting in a conflict that may not be solved with simple powers of this world.

The Exorcist III (titled The Exorcist III: Legion in some areas of the world) plays less of a typical exorcist film, but rather a supernatural murder mystery that deals with some exorcism at the end. While it’s not as creepy horrorish as others in the franchise, this is also what makes it stand out from the rest too. It borrows heavily from the lore of the first film, reintroducing us to Father Karras (still played by Jason Miller some 17 years later), but blends in traditional murder mystery elements as well, culminating in the classic exorcism rituals that these movies are known for. The movie is fast paced for a near 2 hour film, and manages to be the second best in the entire franchise. Something that is no easy feat considering how bad the 2nd one is, with the 4th and 5th films nearly as abysmal.

The supernatural elements tend to be rather subtle at first, but right around the hour mark the film slowly begins to drift more and more in that direction. Sadly Blatty sacrifices some character development by exposition dumping what happened to father Karras and how the Gemini character came to be part of his body by having it basically just dumped into Kinderman’s lap in a 5 minute scene. Personally (and so did Blatty) I would have preferred for the reveal to be a bit more subtle, which is partially done in the Director’s Cut included in Blu-ray form in this set (don’t worry, this is more of a rough production cut than a true director’s cut, as Blatty pieced it together from old footage, re-shot theatrical footage, and various other pieces in a hodge podge of events that gives us a peak of what he WANTED to do, but couldn’t do at the times. It’s a fun novelty but not going to be some amazing James Cameron style director’s cut). Either way, it’s still the 2nd best film of the franchise and probably the most clever too.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




4K Video: Video:

The Exorcist III has had a couple releases on high definition already. A rather mediocre release from Warner in 2014, a rather nice rendition from Scream Factory in 2016, and now this new 4K UHD as well. Luckily for us, they went back to the source for this new 4K remaster (with help from Blatty himself) and the new remaster is head and shoulders over even the nice Scream Factory collector’s edition 6.5 years ago. This is a fantastic release, allowing the organic grain structure of the 1990 film to be on full display, while getting rid of all the nasty black crush (especially in the padded cell) and boosting the colors ever so slightly with the HDR application (the red coat on the nurse stands out the most). There doesn’t seem to have been any restoration done on the Director’s Cut (which isn’t shocking) and the Blu-ray appears to be of the same transfer as the 2016 release. All in all, a great 3 disc package with the 4K UHD being light years ahead of all previous releases by a goodly margin.








Audio:

Scream Factory announced for this release that they were striking a brand new 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix from the original elements instead of using the 5.1 Upmix that Warner used (and was used for the 2016 Scream Factory Blu-ray), and the results are quite nice. I wasn’t sure how good it would sound, but it’s once more head and shoulders over the old 5.1 upmix. Personally I do like the original stereo lossless track as it’s more in line with how the film originally sounded, but this 5.1 mix is nothing to sneeze at. The mix does a great job with background chatter and hubbub of the hospital, and the original theatrical sound effects are blended in to a surround sound world quite nicely. Bass is punchy enough with the supernatural scares, but never overly hot or aggressive. The orthodox chants are really where the track shines though, with great vocals and a deep guttural sound that fills the entire room. I’m not one for new mixes of all tracks, but this 5.1 is probably the best the movie has ever sounded in surround.







Extras:

Blu-ray: Theatrical Cut
• NEW restoration of the original stereo and 5.1 tracks (2023)
• Deleted Scene/Alternate Takes/Bloopers
• Deleted Prologue
• Vintage interviews (featuring behind-the-scenes footage) with writer/director William Peter Blatty, George C. Scott, Jason Miller, Ed Flanders and more…
• Vintage Featurette
• Theatrical Trailers
• TV Spots
• Radio Spots
• Photo Galleries

Blu-ray: Director's Cut
• William Peter Blatty's director's cut – LEGION, assembled from the interpositive and select scenes from the VHS dallies, approved by William Peter Blatty
• Audio interview with director/writer William Peter Blatty
• Death, Be Not Proud: The Making of THE EXORCIST III – feature-length, five-chapter documentary on the making of the film featuring interviews with actor Brad Dourif, production designer Lesley Dilley, composer Barry De Vorzon, producer Carter DeHaven and more…
• Optional English subtitles for the main feature

Final Score: ​

The Exorcist III is probably the ONLY sequel to the Friedkin directed original that is worthy of the name “sequel”. All others have been direct to video trash or else a lesson in studio over involvement. This is the only film in the entire series that is NEARLY as good as the original, just in a different way. Brad Dourif shows just how well he can do playing evil villains, and Jason Miller’s return as Father Karras is spot on as “patient X”. The new remaster of audio AND video makes it well worth grabbing, making this collector’s edition the best version to date out. Definitely recommended for horror fans.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: George C. Scott, Ed Flanders, Brad Dourif, Jason Miller, Scott Wilson, Nicol Williamson
Directed by: William Peter Blatty
Written by: William Peter Blatty
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: NR
Runtime: 110 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: Martch 28th, 2023

Recommendation: Good Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I only saw the original and heard the rest were not worth watching.. I may check this one out..

Interesting to see they even did a prequel.

from wikipedia,

 

[bobinuta]

Thanks for the excellent review !