Why The Exorcist 3 Cut A Terrifying Face Morphing Effect
Here's why The Exorcist 3 cut a terrifying effects scene involving Patient X morphing through different faces. Few horror movies can match the cultural impact of The Exorcist, which adapted the novel of the same name by William Peter Blatty. The movie shocked audiences to their very core back in 1973, and it still tops lists of the greatest horror movies ever made. The various follow-ups to the movie have had a spotty history, with John Boorman's Exorcist II: The Heretic being considered a disaster, while the short-lived TV series that debuted in 2016 received mostly great reviews.
The best movie sequel is easily 1990's The Exorcist 3, which cast George C. Scott as a detective investigating a string of murders linked to the original movie. Directors like John Carpenter circled the movie before Blatty himself stepped behind the camera, and he crafted an elegant, thoughtful thriller that still featured some fantastic scares. Blatty's sequel was originally titled Legion like its source novel and its links to the 1973 movie were downplayed, but the studio later insisted on adding The Exorcist 3 title to boost its marketability.
The Exorcist 3 reveals that a demon is now inhabiting the body of the presumed deceased Damien Karras, the priest from the original movie, and it is behind the killings. The production didn't originally feature the return of Jason Miller in the role, with Brad Dourif instead playing Karras/Patient X. Reshoots later added an elaborate, somewhat ill-fitting exorcism finale while Miller was also brought back and shared the role with Dourif. The reshoots also featured a scene in the finale where Patient X's face morphs into different characters, which was glimpsed in various trailers.
It's an eerie, unsettling effect but sadly it was cut from the movie. This was down to William Peter Blatty, who felt the effects for the face morph scene just didn't look right. Looking at snippets of the scene from The Exorcist 3 previews it's easy to see why Blatty felt this way, but the imperfect morphing effects actually adds to its uncanniness. The director also trimmed other unsettling images, such as the unlucky priest who is murdered near the start of the movie, with a deleted scene showing that the killer placed his own severed head in his hands.
The Exorcist 3 was a decent success in 1990 but the overall reception was mixed, but over the years, it has received critical reappraisal. A Director's Cut version eventually landed on Blu-ray that used VHS footage to restore Blatty's original intention, which featured the original Patient X scenes with Brad Dourif and removed the final exorcism. While devotees were hoping to see other The Exorcist 3 deleted scenes like the "face morph" effect at least show up as extras, it appears this footage is now lost.
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