Exorcist - The Beginning (Widescreen Edition) Review
See more picture
Exorcist - The Beginning (Widescreen Edition) Feature
"This movie is cursed!" exclaimed movie-magazine headlines regarding
Exorcist: The Beginning, but those dire warnings turned out to be exaggerated. Considering a tumultuous production history that actually
did seem cursed, Renny Harlin's much-maligned prequel to
The Exorcist is a surprisingly competent, serious-minded shocker filled with the same anxious foreboding that made the 1973 original so phenomenally effective. The story lacks focus and feels cobbled together (perhaps the result of its tortured development, which included the untimely death of original director John Frankenheimer), but Stellan Skarsgård is well-cast as Father (now Mr.) Merrin, a lapsed Catholic priest summoned to East Africa in 1949 to retrieve a demonic idol. He discovers a buried church, a vast underground cavern, demonic possession, and a legacy of carnage that preys upon guilt-ridden memories from his parish in Nazi-occupied Holland. Harlin delivers the gross-out moments that Warner Brothers demanded, but otherwise shows remarkable restraint while cinematographer Vittorio Storaro delivers doom-laden visual atmosphere. It's not the classic many were hoping for--not even close--but it's still a win-win scenario for horror fans, since it's rumored the unreleased and "abandoned" version directed by Paul Schrader will be paired with this film for its DVD release. Comparisons will no doubt prove interesting.
--Jeff Shannon
Stellan Skarsgard, James D'Arcy. On an expedition to Africa, Father Merrin makes an impossible discovery-a Byzantine church buried intact. But when madness descends upon local villagers and his British soldiers, he knows that something much worse has been unleashed as well. 2004/color/113 min/R/widescreen.
Check price now
