The Exorcist vs Exorcist III

Just curious. How do you feel about the tremendous change in The Exorcist III - partially forced by the studio's demand for an exorcism scene - of the altruistic Damien Karras having been captured by the vengeful demon, forced back into his dying body ... and then forced to cohabit that body with the evil Gemini Killer...?

Karras does not appear AS Karras in Legion. Only his resuscitated body is present and it only houses the Gemini's spirit But in Exorcist III, poor Damien is actually present, trapped in his former body, and is made to suffer horrendously.

At first I experienced shock and outrage that the rewrite robbed Damien of his victory at the end of the first book and movie. What a mean thing to do to this saintly priest.

But in later viewings, I changed my mind entirely. Although bitterly unfair, the demon's capture of Damien actually serves to "up the ante" of the film narrative - creating a tension and exorcistic climax that the Legion novel wholly lacked.

I say this because in Exorcist III, Damien, who had sacrificed his life to save a possessed child, has now himself become the object of rescue - which in the film is jointly affected by Fr. Paul Morning and Lt. Bill Kinderman.

So do you think the rewrite was a cheat of what the original novel presented as Karras's victory? Or do you think that its cinematic fittingness - if not success - is justified as a strong new story element in Exorcist III?