Exorcist II The Heretic
Music Composed And Conducted By Ennio Morricone
Performed by The Hollywood Symphony Orchestra
Album Reissue Produced By Robin Esterhammer
Perseverance Reissue PRR 042
Limited Edition of 3000 Copies
13 Tracks - Running Time: 35:06
Rating of 6.5 of 10
Exorcist 2 is the still the most infamous sequels in movie history earning the Razzie Award and earning the distinction of having beat its classic predicessor to premeire on cable. The film was an ill fated project from the get go with both William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty not returning and couldn't find a suitable premise to continue the series with, Actor Lee J.Cobb having passed away and his large role for this film completely written out, Jon Voight dropping out of the film before filming began, consistant tinkering with the screenplay to which Linda Blair was completely disasstified with to the point that she wanted to leave but couldn't for contractual reasons and Director John Boorman, fresh off the major hit Deliverance, continued to tinker with the film even after it was released in theaters.
The film stars a reluctantly returning Linda Blair reprising her famous character Regan MacNeil, who in this film constantly suffers from bad dreams and repressed memories. The memories she represses are of the time she was possessed by a demon. Enter Dr. Gene Tuskin (Louise Fletcher) who works with troubled children, perhaps none more than Reagan. Dr. Tuskin's invention, a device that hypnotizes two persons and links their minds together, reveals that the demon named Pazuzu still lurks within her and very desperate to emerge again and continue to wreak havoc like before. Father Philip Lamont (Richard Burton) is ordered by his cardinal to investigate the death of Father Merrin (Max Von Sydow), who died while performing the exorcism on Regan and takes his task reluctantly as he feels unworthy of his assignment feeling that Evil is literally an entity and that this entity is winning the battle over Good. During his investigation which takes him to Africa where he locates another recipient of Merrin's exorcising which may have a continual link to Reagan and exorcise her demons once and for all.
While the original had commissioned a completely original, but too in your face string based horror score by Lalo Schifrin, which literally went into the parking lot thanks to Director William Freidkin seeing that it was not the right tone or anything like Friedkin had envisioned the music to be like. While the film had ultimately ended up using the memorable Tubular Bells as well as Krystof Penderecki's works amongst the many classical or avant grade material that ended up as the film's original score, Exorcist 2 went in a totally different direction enlisting the services of the maestro, Ennio Morricone, who was coming off Bernardo Bertolucci's massive historical epic, 1900 starring Robert DeNiro and Gerard Depardeu. Morricone, is without question of one of cinema's legendary composer with a resume that features over five-hundred films of all genres including Once Upon A Time In America, The Mission, Bugsy, Days of Heaven and The Untouchables to name a few.
The score to Exorcist 2 is based primarily on Reagan's Theme, which is easily the highlight of the score without question with it's simplistic melody for acoustic guitar and a wordless female vocal that brings some kind of warmth to the otherwise manic atmosphere the film encorporates. The theme gets a lush treatement in Reagan's Theme (Finale) as well as two exceptional variations in "Interrupted Melody", one dominated by an almost tragic and delicate sounding violin solo. The rest of the score is mainly dominated by suspense and atmospheric material in Morricone's trademark style and with variying orchestrations featured in the tracks "Little Afro Flemish Mass", featuring a chorus and percussion, "Dark Revelation", "Rite of Magic" and "Night Flight" with its relentless afro cuban percussion and wordless choral chants that act like continuous punches toward the listener as it goes on.
This is Perseverance Records, first title as part of the newly issued sublabel for the label dedicated to reissuing soundtracks that are either long out of print on CD or LP. I have to say that this some of the nicest packaging I've seen in a long time with the CD looking like a mini 45 EP which is great and the artwork is light years better than the one that the Warner Bros. France version of the soundtrack used eleven years ago for their reissue series which didn't last very long. With some nice liner notes by Randall Larson, give Robin Esterhammer credit for giving Morricone fans another shot at owning a score that was a real valuable piece of movie memorbilia up until the first reissue.
Exorcist 2 is one of those scores that you will either love or hate. Morricone fans will devour this one without question and regular fans, should give it a shot and Reagan's Theme which is almost darkly romantic, should appeal to them especially. After a long hiatus on CD, Morricone's fans are rejoycing and Perseverance is becoming a major player.
Exorcist 2 is available to order directly from Perseverance's website http://store.fortytwotradingco.com/exiihe.html
Ennio Morricone is among the legends of film music composers. He has sold over fifty million albums worldwide and written music for over 500 movies, television shows and classical recordings over the course of 6 decades. His best known works include five Oscar nominations (as well as a lifetime achievement award) for Days Of Heaven, The Mission, Bugsy, The Untouchables and Malena. Liner notes by Randall Larson. - Perseverance Records
1. Regan's Theme (Finale) (2:55)
2. Pazuzu (Theme From Exorcist II) (2:50)
3. Interrupted Melody (2:43)
4. Rite Of Magic (2:35)
5. Little Afro-Flemish Mass (4:31)
6. Great Bird Of The Sky (1:33)
7. Magic And Ecstasy (3:01)
8. Seduction And Magic (1:14)
9. Regan's Theme (Floating Sound) (2:05)
10. Dark Revelation (1:19)
11. Night Flight (5:47)
12. Interrupted Melody (Suspended Melody) (2:55)
13. Exorcism (0:58)
- Danny Gonzalez
Film Music Examiner NYC
