Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
Directed By: Renny Harlin
Written By: Alexi Hawley
Year of Release: 2004
Father Merrin has turned into a non-believer after seeing the horrific atrocities committed by the Nazis in World War II. He has moved to Africa to work as an archaeologist where an antiques dealer asks him to find a relic in an unearthed church in Kenya. Once Merrin arrives at the excavation site, strange phenomena begin to overtake the village. Merrin discovers soon that an ancient evil force has been set free due to the excavation and in order to stop it, he’ll have to start believing once again.
As I’m sure you guys know, Renny Harlin was hired to re-shoot Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, and came out with this. While I don’t think it’s on the same level as Dominion, it’s not really fair to compare them either. If you watch them back-to-back like I did, you’ll see how entirely different they are. Dominion relied more on a drama/psychological feel, while this one goes for horror. Of course, someone was hired to re-write the script also.
As in Dominion, the film follows Father Merrin and his guilt/lack of faith he has from the events he witnessed during World War II. While the Nazi scenes only give you a gist of what Merrin witnessed here, they were more complete and well done in Dominion. Besides that, the story centers around the same goal, which is Merrin traveling to Kenya to find an idol of the pagan demon Pazuzu. Wild shit happens, people go insane, someone becomes possessed, Merrin to the rescue, yadda yadda.
This film has a lot more gore, but that doesn’t necessarily make it better. The opening scene is pretty cool, where a priest is in an empty field with a bunch of people dead and hung upside down on crosses. There is a particularly brutal scene of a young boy being torn apart by wolves, but the animals look too much like CGI to be in any kind of fright. Another scene has a man hung up in a church while crows pick him apart. The problem is that while all this is cool to look at, none of this is scary. In the Exorcist franchise, they always relied on creepy imagery and tension to get the scares, not “let’s make it blood filled just to be blood filled!” It doesn’t leave the typical viewer going “omg that’s terrifying” but rather “omg that’s gross.”
Some of the things I can enjoy, and some are just too corny. For instance, someone leaving a room only to come back to find the cross in that room turned upside down. Walking into to a room with a door, and then having it suddenly close with a loud thud. Oh my! I totally never saw that coming! Although this was a complete film, the CGI effects were pretty bad still. The possessed in this movie isn’t even original, because the character basically does her best Regan Mcneil impression. The walk, the same cuts, the same make-up, it’s all been done before. It actually looks exactly like a cross between Regan and a demon from the Evil Dead series. Watch the very last scene for a comical slow motion demon attack.
Stellan Skarsgård once again is good as Merrin, but most of the repeat performances were better in the first go around with Dominion. I assume this has to do with re-shooting an entire movie, but the script is pretty bad. Some of the characters were a lot deeper in Dominion, especially the British General. I won’t go into spoilers, but the reasons for his actions in Dominion are entirely different and arguably justified.
When it’s all said and done, I think it’s easy to see that I prefer Dominion. It can be argued that Dominion seems like an unpolished film with it’s terrible effects, but I can respect where it was trying to go with it’s budget limitations. Of course the Beginning will look better if it has the fully studio backing and support. If you want a movie that rehashes a lot of the original Exorcist but with a lot of cool gore, then watch this. If you want a more dramatic take on Merrin with the World War II stuff, stick to Dominion. I enjoyed them both to an extent, but I prefer Dominion, you may not. This is entirely a viewer’s choice.
5.1/10
