And don't forgo the chance to see his maddest film, EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (Brattle: November 23 at 9:30 pm), on the big screen, where the astonishing visuals can truly be appreciated. The first of the Exorcist sequels (it came out in 1977), it has a stupefying William Goodhart script and a late Richard Burton performance — he's the priest sent to investigate the exorcisms of the late Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) — in which the combination of his embroidered Welsh-accented line readings and his physical stiffness turns him into a prize camp object. Pauline Kael once wrote that the movie would be amazing if you could turn off the sound, and a friend of mine once solved the problem by renting the DVD and turning on the dubbed Italian soundtrack.
The Brattle won't be offering that option, as far as I know, but the howlers in the script are probably worth the price of admission. (Burton actually says, "Evil is an insidious being.") And certainly the double-layered imagery is worth it in the eye-popping scene where Burton, Linda Blair, and Louise Fletcher as a forward-thinking shrink "go down" together via a "synchronizer" to revisit the exorcism at the climax of the first movie. The Exorcist was unredeemed, heartless junk; Exorcist II: The Heretic is simultaneously insane and visionary. Who could beat that combo?
John Boorman appears in person at the Harvard Film Archive November 21-22.
Related:
Review: Department of Eagles, Photos: El Perro Del Mar at the Brattle Theatre, Review: El Perro Del Mar at the Brattle, More 
- Review: Department of Eagles
At the Brattle Theatre Sunday, Fred Nicolaus, guitarist from the Brooklyn-based duo Department of Eagles, announced that they'd play a song from their little-known 2003 debut album, The Whitey on the Moon UK LP . "It's not very good," he warned.
- Photos: El Perro Del Mar at the Brattle Theatre
Photos of El Perro Del Mar and Taken By Trees at the Brattle Theatre
- Review: El Perro Del Mar at the Brattle
Sharing a bill, a backing band, and the cramped stage of the Brattle Theatre last Friday, two Swedish singer-songwriters turned it up to the world-music equivalent of 11 for an audience that, for the most part, refused to dance.
- Photos: Brattle Oscars Party 2010
The Brattle Theatre celebrates their 10th annual Oscars Party
- Review: The Parking Lot Movie
Everything you need to know can be learned in the Charlottesville Corner Parking Lot.
- Photos: Bike Porn at the Brattle (NSFW)
Photos from Bike Porn 3: Cycle Bound, The Backlash Tour
- Review: Daddy Longlegs
For about an hour, Josh and Benny Safdie’s trendy indie about a deadbeat dad taking care of his two boys for two weeks in Manhattan seems like the kind of movie in which you hate everybody — especially the directors.
- Photos: Lost Finale Party at the Brattle Theatre
This party had What It Takes
- Review: Best Worst Movie (2010)
I've been strong-arming acquaintances about this deliriously entertaining documentary ever since I saw it at South by Southwest last year. The response to my fevered pitch for Best Worst Movie has been polite nodding, eyes glazed over.
- Edan brings beauty to the big screen
Be sure to munch that eighth of mushrooms in your sock drawer before heading to the Brattle Tuesday for the A/V ride of a lifetime.
- Marwencol and Jafar Panahi star at Boston Society of Film Critics awards
From Boston to Oscar.
- Less
Topics:
Features
, Entertainment, Movies, The Beatles, More
, Entertainment, Movies, The Beatles, Richard Burton, The Dave Clark Five, Burt Reynolds, Horror Films, Marcello Mastroianni, Max von Sydow, Brendan Gleeson, Less
