My relationship to horror started like a lot of people’s: I was a ridiculously scared child. The thought of Freddy Krueger’s claws was enough to drive me to tears. But then, I grew up, and I became obsessed with the genre and its controlled fears. I have a soft spot for exorcism storylines, featuring the kind of horror that lingers and makes its way into your home. Blame it on my Catholic upbringing, but few things are more disturbing to me than watching Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) spider walk down the stairs.

William Friedkin’s The Exorcist works because it’s nasty, but disciplined. While there’s projectile vomiting and all sorts of bodily fluids, at its core, Friedkin’s movie is a meditation on faith. The Exorcist III takes a similar approach, opting for restraint until it finally lets loose. Directed by William Peter Blatty, who wrote the original 1971 novel, it’s a Frankenstein’s monster of a film, stitched together under studio interference, with disjointed tones, recast parts, and an explosive ending that was a studio addition. It also features a frightening and undersung villain who makes Regan look like child’s play.

With Mike Flanagan’s upcoming franchise revival The Exorcist: Martyrs set to pair a serial killer case with demonic possession in what seems like a clear nod to Blatty's film, this Halloween is the perfect time to revisit a sequel that has earned cult status after years of being misunderstood.

The Exorcist III is based on Blatty’s 1983 novel, Legion , and set 15 years after the MacNeil exorcism.

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