10 Terrifying Scenes In Psychological Thrillers
2. The Exorcist III (1990)
If you have never seen The Exorcist III, stop reading, go watch it right now. William Peter Blatty's sequel is possibly the most underrated psychological thriller of all time and a movie that was criminally overlooked by audiences and professionally neglected by its producers.
The sequence featured here is one of the most effective jump scares ever put on film and in a world where modern horror is often nothing but one big jump scare, this one is the Mount Everest, the Moon landing, the Mona Lisa of jump scares.
Bill Kinderman (George C Scott), the cop from the original movie investigates a series of grisly murders, including that of his friend and other returning original character, Father Dyer. The trouble is that the slayings all have not just similar but identical features of the 'Gemini Killer' murders, a case from his past.
The other problem is that the Gemini is dead, so how is this possible? Through the demonic possession of 'Patient X,' a man held in a psychiatric ward, who not only claims to be the Gemini but bears an uncanny resemblance to Father Damian Karras, the priest in the original movie who sacrificed his life to save that of Regan MacNeil.
This sequence is one highlight in a movie packed with snappy dialogue, gripping atmosphere and a plot that resembles a serial killer whodunit, not a tired sequel/remake. Studio interference forced Blatty to change the ending from that of his novel but don't be put off, this film is an undervalued gem.