The Exorcist III

Fifteen years after the exorcism that claimed Father Damien Karras, Lieutenant Kinderman is pulled back into a city’s dark underbelly when a brutal murder shatters the quiet. A boy is found decapitated and crucified, a macabre murder that echoes the church’s old battles with evil. As Kinderman investigates, the case threads him through ominous hospital corridors, whispered church lore, and faces from his past that refuse to stay buried. A troubled priest named Father Morning and a mysterious patient become entwined in the inquiry, blurring lines between science and faith. The investigation widens into questions about memory, guilt, and whether a dark force can survive beyond the exorcism itself, leaving the watcher with lingering questions, and the city feels watched.

Directed by William Peter Blatty, who wrote the original Exorcist and adapted his Legion novel for the screen, The Exorcist III released in 1990 as a distinctive return to the franchise with Blatty emphasizing mood and character over shocks again.

With a budget of 9,300,000, the film earned 39,024,251 worldwide, making a respectable return for a prestige horror entry that expanded the Exorcist world beyond the first film and earned praise in select markets worldwide, pleasing fans across several countries.

Among horror aficionados, The Exorcist III has earned a cult following for its measured pacing and George C. Scott’s authoritative Kinderman. It is often praised for deepening the franchise through themes of doubt, memory, and the pull of evil, while standing apart from its predecessor’s tone, offering restraint that lingers.

Critical reception was mixed, with some praising atmosphere and performances while others found the plot opaque. The film examines faith and skepticism, memory and trauma, and how evil lingers in quiet places, offering a rarer, darker mood that has earned renewed interest from fans and scholars, around the globe today.