The Ninth Configuration (1980)

☆ ☆ ½

The Ninth Configuration (1980) – W. P. Blatty

Here we have the directorial debut of writer William Peter Blatty, who had his biggest success as the author (and subsequently the screenwriter) of The Exorcist (filmed in 1973).  Supposedly, this film extends that horror film’s themes (roughly a battle between good and evil) and forms a loose trilogy as the middle film between The Exorcist I and The Exorcist III (The Exorcist II was written by someone else and disowned by all involved).  But trying to figure out how this film relates to the Exorcist thematically seems a nearly impossible challenge (there is some discussion about whether God exists, I guess that’s it).  The plot involves a castle purportedly in the Pacific Northwest of the US (but really in Hungary – and impressive) that is being used as an institution to house those members of the armed forces who have been declared mentally unfit for service.  The medical doctor in charge is played by Ed Flanders (St. Elsewhere) but he defers to psychiatrist Stacey Keach (Fat City, Mike Hammer) when he arrives to determine whether the inmates are truly insane or just escaping duty.  It is, perhaps, a meta-physical question but not really addressed here.  The general feel of the film is a sort of cross between M.A.S.H. and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – but more pretentious, less naturalistic, and more forced.  Scott Wilson plays an inmate/former astronaut who was unable to go to the moon, flaking out on the launching pad (and imdB claims that he is the astronaut for whom Regan in The Exorcist claimed “you’re gonna die up there” – the only link to the other movie, I could see).  Anyway, Keach is entirely vague and subdued in his part until a cryptic late “reveal” results in a violent bar-fight – perhaps he has been possessed by a demon or demons (or it is the evil influence of war and trauma).  Hard to say.  But by that point I had lost my patience with the film which ultimately seems amateurish and ham-fisted.  If there is something of value here, it is hard to discern.