The Exorcist III (1990) (Collector's Edition)

[jacobb1313]

They found the footage?! Nice. Whatever the quality of the original elements, this will be a day-1 purchase.

[dvdmike]

Well I never

[Gold Ranger]

And I just recently got the Anthology!

[balthazar_bee]

Originally Posted by dvdmike

Well I never

That's my reaction as well. I had this one filed squarely under "pipe dream".

[seamus11]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Count me interested as I really like III. Does anyone know what the missing footage contained and how much are we talking?

Not sure if all of this will be reinsered:
- Alternate opening scene in which Kinderman views the body of Karras in the morgue after his fall down the stairs in the ending of the first movie. When Kinderman leaves the morgue...the heart monitor shows signs of life from the body of Karras.
- Aftermath of death scene of the first murdered priest -- where his dead body is shown holding his severed head while sitting.
- Longer version of the scene where Kinderman talks with priest about the murders and when demon face is shown on statue of the saint. Originally, unseen intruder decapitates the statue and places a knife in its hand.
- Exhumation of Damien Karras's body in Jesuit cemetery. Later it's discovered that dead body is actually from Brother Fain, Jesuit who was tending Karras's body and who disappeared 15 years ago. Although this scene is deleted, parts of it are used in new ending where Patient X/Karras is buried.
- Blatty's original cut also didn't have Jason Miller as Karras/Patient X in it, and it had a different isolation cell for scenes in which Kinderman talked with Patient X/Gemini killer. Some promotional photos show Patient X and Kinderman talking in original cell.
- New exorcism ending that Blatty had to film also had small part deleted in which Karras/Patient X is morphing through many other faces. One theatrical trailer shows this deleted scene.

To be honest, I am interested to see how absence of Jason Miller will play out - it will be strange to see Kinderman talking about how he sees "a man who looks like Damien Karras" in front of himself while he will be played entirely by Brad Dourif...

[Walts Ghost]

Finally!

[MifuneFan]

Excitement now. Disappointment later.

Bank on it.

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by sxerunner

Unlikely because Warner has the distribution rights over The Exorcist films

Only the first two, III and IV are Morgan Creek's (as any future Exorcist project will be). After all, Fox released III theatrically since they had the Morgan Creek distribution deal at the time. Warner took that over but now that it's expiring, I'd imagine the later sequels will go to the highest bidder along with the rest of the Morgan Creek library. (It's worth noting Morgan Creek said they're going to keep the remake/sequel rights to their most lucrative properties like The Exorcist for themselves -- that won't be part of the sale, only their film library).

Which would be fine, seeing as Warner's Blu of III is crap with that phony, defective 5.1 soundtrack that pushes what ought to be directional audio out of the center channel. Hopefully the theatrical cut of III will be remastered along with Blatty's original version.

[Todd Tomorrow]

This is indeed amazing news. The Exorcist III is one of my favourite horror films and I can't wait to view it the way it should have been seen in the first place. Still have not gotten round to watching The Exorcist III on Blu and will now hold on till this comes out.

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by DMRI2006

Only the first two, III and IV are Morgan Creek's (as any future Exorcist project will be). After all, Fox released III theatrically since they had the Morgan Creek distribution deal at the time. Warner's interest/ownership of the series ended after II.

So my question is still valid. Will any reissue of Exorcist III be delayed because of the pending sale of the library? Shout was mentioned as a possibility but I would much rather Arrow or even Criterion handle the restoration. Of course, this is all dependent upon whether or not Morgan Creek is willing to license this one out independent of a sale of the library. Otherwise, it may be a case of waiting for a buyer to finalize the transaction before we see anything.

[dvdmike]

Mark Kermode just ruined a pair of trousers

[dissention]

It's a Christmas miracle.

The footage was likely found with the Nightbreed footage at Fox. If Scream does indeed get it, hopefully Morgan Creek assembles the actual film for them. I don't want to hear anymore BS about how this & that wasn't included because they didn't have the resources and time to go through the audio. This is your one chance.

[BluPat]

Wow! Always amazing news when new footage is found for a film. Just like the news of newly found footage for Night of the Living Dead.

[DMRI2006]

Originally Posted by cine74

Of course, this is all dependent upon whether or not Morgan Creek is willing to license this one out independent of a sale of the library. Otherwise, it may be a case of waiting for a buyer to finalize the transaction before we see anything.

Given Morgan Creek themselves responded on Twitter about this back in September, I'd say they're more than willing to license it out -- independent of a sale of the library. It could be they already have it lined up and we just don't know about it.

Personally I find it hard to believe they'd be going down this road without having a deal formalized. Their responses on Twitter were very explicit -- they essentially confirmed this was happening, it wasn't some vague mention about a future project, but rather responses to direct questions about it. If it wasn't happening they could have easily not responded to them. Instead they said "funny you should mention that " and "stay tuned" which certainly indicates to me this has been in the works for a while.

[Bumblefeet]

This is great news, I never thought the missing material would be found. Now of course the question is what exactly is Blatty's cut going to be? I expect the Nicol Williamson material will get removed and possibly even Jason Miller's? Will he stick to Dourif's original performance?

It could be a while off before we see a release of this, and I doubt they'll be able to include the theatrical cut as Warner will want to keep that exclusive to the set. But given all this time it was believed to have been lost, news of a new cut is very promising indeed.

[Monroville]

While I really like EXORCIST III, I think the thing that disappointed me was I still wished it "looked" like the first movie, as far as that 70's style.

I can't say I minded the exorcism with "Merlin" at the end (though it was edited a bit confusingly, with him plastered up on the ceiling and then his skin ripping off his back when he fell back down), but it will be... interesting to see this cut. I think the thing I didn't like at all was the stupid shot of the elderly lady crawling on the ceiling overtop Kinderman. That kind of crud ruins the EXORCIST movies (yes, I know Linda floats in the first movie, but it was built up and was about Satan "showing off" to demoralize the priests. Nobody saw the old man crawling on the ceiling in the middle of the day, which is stupid either way: either it's not scary because nobody can see it, or it's stupid because why aren't people seeing an old woman crawling on the ceiling in broad daylight?!?).

I also don't know how I feel if they delete Jason Miller. He was one of the best things about E III.

PS: was there ever a scene with Kinderman and the priest from the first EXORCIST on a table or something? Because when I first watched the movie in the theaters I never made the connection that these were the same characters carried over. Maybe if George had a moustache or something (and Richard Dysart had the comb over).

Regardless, here is hoping they will remaster both films and put them both out like the NIGHTBREED set.

[GasmaskAvenger]

Son of a gun. I knew this was gonna happen after the Shout Factory gang found the lost Nightbreed footage.

I'm so going to pony up to the inevitable three disc Limited Edition once its announced.

[ryanmj1993]

I was never really a fan of the 3rd movie. It just seemed slow. But I may try and watch it again. And with the new cut it may give me a different perspective.

[Member-320773]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

Count me interested as I really like III. Does anyone know what the missing footage contained and how much are we talking?

Some pictures and the morphing head:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uK7...ature=youtu.be

[WorkShed]

I've never seen Exorcist III. Glad I held off for Legion! Now, if only they'd do a proper version of Dominion with completed effects and color correction. That rushed post-production has ruined what would be an interesting film. Starts way better than it ends.