In response to hostile audience reaction to EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC (1977), director John Boorman re-edited the film. Both versions of the film played in theatres; the revised version was released on video in the 1980s. The original version was released to video in the early 1990s and has since been released on DVD; the revised version has never been released on DVD and is now out of print.
The revised version features a truncated ending. Father Philip Lamont (Richard Burton) apparently doesn't survive his tussle with the demon Pazuzu, and, as Dr Gene Tuskin (Louise Fletcher) watches, only Regan (Linda Blair) emerges from the rubble of the MacNeil house. The original version of the film ended with Lamont and Regan both surviving; Lamont administering the last rites to Sharon (Kitty Winn); and Lamont and Regan leaving together before the police arrive.
Boorman also changed the music for the closing credits of the revised version. The original version plays "Regan's Theme" over the entire end credits; the music of the revised version's closing credits changes halfway through to "Magic and Ecstasy," a rock-disco piece that featured prominently in the film's theatrical trailer.
This was recorded from the (Australian) 1981 Warner Home Video release of EXORCIST II: THE HERETIC.
