Father Philip Lamont is struggling with his faith while investigating the death of Father Merrin, who was killed in the course of exorcising the Assyrian demon Pazuzu from Regan MacNeil. Although now seemingly normal, Regan continues to be monitored at a psychiatric institute by Dr. Gene Tuskin. In an attempt to plumb her memories of exorcism, Dr. Tuskin has hypnotized the girl, to whom she's linked by a "synchronizer" and is so overcome by "witnessing" Regan's memory of the event that Lamont has to rescue her. After a tour of the Georgetown house where the exorcism took place, Lamont returns to be coupled with Regan through the synchronizer. The priest is spirited to the past by Pazuzu to observe Father Merrin exorcising a young boy, Kokumo, in Africa. Learning that the boy developed special powers to fight Pazuzu, who appears as a swarm of locusts, Lamont journeys to Africa, defying his superior, to seek help from the adult Kokumo.
Directed by John Boorman.
Starring Linda Blair, Richard Burton, James Earl Jones, Louise Fletcher, Max von Sydow, and Kitty Winn.
