MovieChat Forums > The Exorcist III (1990) Discussion > Prime suspects in Kintry and Dyer murder...

Prime suspects in Kintry and Dyer murders

posted 8 years ago by Edward_de_Vere
3 replies | jump to latest

Kinderman states that only Georgetown homicide and those with access to their files knew the truth about the Gemini killer's gimmick of cutting off the index finger and making the zodiac sign on the palm. Everyone else was fed misinformation about the wrong finger and the sign on the back.

Since investigators aren't generally in the business of seriously considering supernatural explanations for murder, Georgetown PD's initial prime suspects for a copy-cat killer would have to be someone within the police department who had access to the files. In both the novel and the film, having someone within Georgetown PD as a red herring prime suspect would have made for an interesting side plot.

[–] bastasch8647 8 years ago

Yes, it would have made a very good side plot... the novel halfway went there with the Amfortas character - but of course, he was hospital, not police, staff...

[–] Edward_de_Vere 8 years ago

Furthermore, Amfortas wasn't exactly a red herring - it was implied that he was assisting the killer.

[–] bastasch8647 8 years ago

Yes, he was a suspect, but then at the end, his own Doppelganger (probably truly) charges him with involvement in the Gemini's crime spree...although the exact mechanism is opaque, i.e., Blatty doesn't make it clear how much Amfortas' brain tumor may have exonerated his cooperation/participation in the Gemini's "work"; nor does Blatty explain how and why Amfortas became aligned with the Gemini in the first place because iirc, Amfortas is never depicted as having seen Vennamun as a patient. The only sinister staff-to-Vennamun contact is the hint that Dr. Temple may have been planting details about the Gemini's former crime spree into Patient X's (possibly) innocuous, vacuous mind... but you're correct: Amfortas - if we believe Temple's accusations about Amfortas to Kinderman, and the Doppelganger's charges - was not a real red herring, but an actual culprit.