10 Most Twisted Asylum Horror Movies

7. The Exorcist III

The Ward Amber Heard
Fox

While The Exorcist II: The Heretic was a major disappointment, William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist III is a cracking horror movie that works great as a standalone effort or as a sequel to The Exorcist.

Set 17 years after the events of the first movie - and completely ignoring The Exorcist II - George C. Scott's Lt. Kinderman has a slew of sinister, purportedly demonic murders on his hands. With these murders all falling in line with the habits of the infamous Gemini Killer (Brad Dourif), Kinderman has quite the mystery to solve - particularly as the Gemini Killer was executed 15 years ago.

Upon visiting a psychiatric unit for advice, Kinderman is introduced to an amnesia-suffering patient who was found 15 years ago and who claims to be the Gemini Killer. As it happens, this patient is none other than Father Karras of the first film; a possessed Karras whose appearance briefly changes to that of the Gemini Killer.

It's revealed how, after the events of The Exorcist, Karras had been taken over by the same entity that tormented young Regan MacNeil. Pissed off at being exorcised, this demon uses Karras' carcass as a conduit for the spirit of the Gemini Killer, with that spirit leaving Karras on a nightly basis to corrupt other patients and hospital staff to committing atrocities.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.