| The contents of this article or section are considered to be non-canon as they did not have William Peter Blatty's involvement and therefore may not have actually happened/existed. |
| Father Philip Lamont | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Portrayer(s) | Richard Burton |
- "So it was that four years later, I climbed a hill in South America with a heavy heart, for it had fallen on me to carry on Father Merrin's struggle."
- ―Father Philip Lamont
Father Philip Lamont is a Catholic priest (portrayed by Richard Burton) who battles Pazuzu in Exorcist II: The Heretic.
In the beginning of the film, Father Philip Lamont (Richard Burton) arrives and performs exorcism on a woman named Healing Girl (Rose Portillo). He splashes holy water on her, but she intentionally attempts to escape but is held back by the women. Father Lamont ends up hearing Healing Girl say to him her final words that she heals the sick. When the exorcism goes wrong, Healing Girl frees herself from the women and knocks the lit candles over, inadvertently setting the place on fire but unintentionally setting herself on fire. Lamont tries to rescue Healing Girl but is held back by the women. The women hold Father Lamont away from Healing Girl so fire does not engulf him as fire engulfs her. Father Lamont watches as fire engulfs Healing Girl and kills her. When Healing Girl dies and she does not make it due to fire killing her, Father Lamont escapes but he is scared. This particular memory haunts him for the rest of his life after her death.
Afterward, Lamont is assigned by the Cardinal to investigate the death of Father Lankester Merrin, who had been killed four years earlier in the course of exorcising the Assyrian demon Pazuzufrom Regan MacNeil. The Cardinal informs Lamont that Merrin is facing posthumous heresy charges because of his controversial writings, as Church authorities are trying to modernize and do not want to acknowledge that Satan exists. Although now seemingly normal and staying with her guardian Sharon Spencer (Kitty Winn) in New York City, Regan continues to be monitored at a psychiatric institute by Dr. Gene Tuskin. Regan claims that she remembers nothing about her ordeal in Washington, D.C., but Tuskin believes that her memories are repressed.
Father Lamont visits the institute, but his attempts to question Regan about the circumstances of Merrin's death are rebuffed by Tuskin, who believes that Lamont's approach would do Regan more harm than good. In an attempt to plumb her memories of the exorcism, and specifically the circumstances in which Merrin died, Tuskin hypnotizes Regan, to whom she is linked by a "synchronizer", a revolutionary biofeedback device used by two people to synchronize their brainwaves. After a guided tour by Sharon of the Georgetown house where the exorcism took place, Lamont returns to be coupled with Regan by the synchronizer. The priest is spirited to the past by Pazuzu to observe 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.
Kokumo has become a scientist studying how to prevent locustswarms. Lamont learns that Pazuzu attacks people who have psychic healing abilities. Regan is able to reach telepathically inside the minds of others; she uses this to help an autistic girl to speak as she waits to see Tuskin. Tuskin and her staff are shocked, but the girl's mother is too overjoyed to care, and despite Tuskin's attempt to keep them in the office to figure out what happened, insists on going home so the girl's father can hear her as well. Father Merrin, who belonged to a group of theologians that believed psychic powers were a spiritual gift that would one day be shared by all people, thought people like Kokumo and Regan were forerunners of this new type of humanity. In a vision, Merrin asks Lamont to watch over Regan.
Lamont and Regan return to the old house in Georgetown. The pair are followed in a taxi by Tuskin and Sharon, who are concerned about Regan's safety. En route, Pazuzu tempts Lamont by offering him unlimited power, appearing as a succubus who is a doppelgänger of Regan. The taxi crashes into the Georgetown house, killing the driver, but Tuskin and Sharon survive; at the front of the house, Sharon sets herself on fire.
Although Lamont initially succumbs to the succubus, he is brought back by Regan and attacks her doppelgänger while a swarm of locusts deluges the house, which begins to crumble around them. However, Lamont manages to kill the doppelgänger by beating open its chest and pulling out its heart. In the end, Regan banishes the locusts (and Pazuzu) by enacting the same bullroarer ritual attempted by Kokumo to get rid of locusts in Africa (although he failed and was possessed).
Outside the house, after saying to Lamont her final words, Sharon dies from her injuries. Tuskin tells Lamont to watch over Regan. Regan and Lamont leave while Tuskin stays to answer police questions.