YMMV / The Exorcist III

• Complete Monster: James Venamun, aka the Gemini Killer—a sobriquet he received due to his carving the Gemini symbol into his victims' hands—had his soul placed into the dying body of Father Damien Karras, but he was already evil before he was executed. While the body recovered, Venamun ended up in an insane asylum, where he used his powers to possess comatose or feeble-minded patients, murdering multiple people in hideously ritualistic ways, including a young boy. Venamun plans to kill forever and never cease, using Father Karras's body upon his exit to, as he says, kill the innocent and Karras's friends, all while Karras is forever trapped within the body, Forced to Watch the depravities his own hands commit.
• Fridge Brilliance: The color red only appears twice when it's not blood. The rose held by the murdered child and Nurse Keating's shawl.
• Head Scratchers: So how will Kinderman explain to his fellow police officers why he shot a man in a straightjacket point blank, and how a priest wound up flayed to death in the same hospital room? Saying a demon did it probably won't fly, so for most onlookers the most obvious explanation would be that Kinderman lost his mind and was responsible for two murders.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The Zodiac Killer watched the original film, calling it "the best satirical comedy [he's] ever seen." Guess who the villain in this movie is based on?
• Misaimed Fandom:
  • Real Life Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer. According to forensic psychiatrist, Park Dietz, Dahmer viewed the Gemini as something of a personal role model because of the power he was able to wield over his victims and captors. He also liked the character of Emperor Palpatine for the same reason.
  • Danny Rolling, the Gainesville Ripper, also admired the character. In fact, he named his alleged alter-ego (who he would blame his murders on) after him to attempt an insanity plea.
• Memetic Mutation: It is NOT in the file! IT IS NOT!! Also doubles as Narm.
• Nausea Fuel: In addition to just being pure Nightmare Fuel, the Gemini Killer's graphic but precise anatomically-driven process on how to decapitate a person without dropping blood can leave one absolutely sick despite only being described and not shown.
• Nightmare Retardant: Some of the more overtly bizarre elements, like the dream sequence in the train station (with Fabio!) and the statue that suddenly looks like The Joker, are as likely to invoke unwanted chuckles as scares in certain viewers.
• Only the Creator Does It Right: This was the only one of the sequels that William Peter Blatty had any involvement with. It's also considered the best of the follow-ups to the first film.
• Questionable Casting: Though George C. Scott bears a decent resemblance to Lee J. Cobb, the actor portraying Lt. Kinderman in the original film, Ed Flanders (Father Dyer) looks absolutely nothing like The Other Darrin William O'Malley. His performance ultimately more than makes up for the discrepancy in appearance though.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Samuel L. Jackson as Blind Dream Man, though his voice is dubbed over.
  • Fabio Lanzoni makes his screen debut in an uncredited bit role as an angel during the dream sequence. Fabio was already a prolific male model at this point, but had yet to gain mainstream recognition.
• Sequelitis: While widely regarded as far superior to the debacle that was Exorcist II: The Heretic, the consensus of many (but not all) critics and viewers alike is that this film was nevertheless a flawed and in many ways unnecessary sequel to The Exorcist.
• Signature Scene: Amy Keating's death scene, due to how brilliant of a Jump Scare it is due to a Bait-and-Switch followed by a Double Subversion.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: After the embarrassment that was Exorcist II: The Heretic, this turned out to be a pretty damn good little horror movie; some think it's horribly underrated; and a few (admittedly very few) even go so far as to say that it's both better and scarier than the first movie.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Poor Father Karras. Keep in mind that Pazuzu is getting revenge by having The Gemini Killer kill all of Karras' friends - as he watches.
  • Father Dyer telling Kinderman, "No, Bill, I'm not dreaming." He says it sadly because he knows he's been murdered and how hard it'll hit his close friend.
    • In the same scene, he greets Thomas — head stitched back on — and tells him warmly that it's nice to see him again and he's sorry Thomas is dead.
• Vindicated by History: At the time of its release, the film got severely mixed reviews from critics and was largely dismissed as another lame attempt at making a sequel to the original. Nowadays, it's usually considered to be an unexpectedly strong horror film in its own right, with some genuinely effective scares and strong performances, that only really suffers in comparison to the classic-and-incomparable original.

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