Overview
- The making‑of film Boorman and the Devil, directed by David Kittredge, opened in New York on Aug. 28 and is scheduled to expand to more U.S. cities on Sept. 4.
- Kittredge assembled new testimony from John Boorman, cast and technical crew to explain the original film’s non‑naturalistic, dreamlike intent rather than to declare Exorcist II a lost masterpiece.
- Participants describe the production’s turmoil—casting shifts, on‑set illness, rewrites and a rushed climax—and the documentary frames those problems as part of an ambitious but misread creative effort.
- Kittredge says the process of making the documentary helped Boorman and some crew members find closure over the 1977 film’s critical and box‑office failure, which still hangs over their careers.
- Coverage and critics position the film as a contextual reappraisal that highlights technical craft, risk‑taking and the late‑1970s industry fallout of Exorcist II rather than a full rehabilitation of the sequel’s reputation.