Boorman and the Devil will be released in New York City on August 28 before expanding to other cities on September 4.

That line, spoken by Merlin in director John Boorman’s 1981 epic Excalibur, could very well describe the filmmaker’s experience while making Exorcist II: The Heretic, the disastrous 1977 sequel to William Friedkin’s landmark horror original. Reviled by critics, laughed at by audiences, and nearly career-ending for Boorman, Exorcist II became a cautionary tale in Hollywood about the dangers of too much of a good thing. And now, a documentary about the making of the film has been released, and it’s an engrossing look at the art of filmmaking and the tension between artist and audience.

Directed by David Kittredge, Boorman and the Devil traces where John Boorman was prior to taking on Exorcist II (namely, having just suffered through another career lowpoint with the oddball sci-fi film Zardoz) before digging in on the writing, production – including an extended hiatus during which the filmmaker was gravely ill and in the hospital – and eventual release and self-destruction of the film while the Hollywood Eye of Sauron looked on. As a matter of fact, it was during that period that Boorman, who took most of the blame for the film’s reception, said in an interview, “What do you want me to do, immolate myself on Hollywood Boulevard?”

The documentary is buoyed by interviews with key players behind the film, including a reflective Boorman himself and stars Linda Blair and the late Louise Fletcher, while commentary is also offered by various crew members who worked on the picture, film critics, and filmmakers alike, the latter of which includes, kind of randomly, Joe Dante and Karyn Kusama, and less randomly, current horror icon Mike Flanagan, who's working on his own take on The Exorcist for next year, The Exorcist: Martyrs .

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