Rating of
0.5/4
The power of Christ compels you...not to see this.
goodfellamike - wrote on 10/26/08
Father Lancaster Merrin, portrayed by Max Von Sydow in the 1973 original Exorcist, is here, in this dire prequel played by Stellan Skarsgard. He is younger, and more confused, even conflicted by his vows of being a priest. He wishes to be acknowledged as an Archaeologist rather than a man of the cloth since being a priest was the reason several Jews were murdered in front of him a few years back. He is summoned to find a sacred Idol in Africa which represents a very evil demon that may be buried beneath the Earth in a recently discovered church. This is no doubt reason enough to go charging into a plague of unexplained phenomena.
The archaologists and scientists already on the scene have either gone mad and been committed to an asylum, or they have gooey postules growing all over their skin. Merrin is accompanied by a novice priest who may know more about the situation than he lets on. Once in Africa, they venture into the nearby village and meet a sexy doctor, the owner of a hotel and his two children and several natives who are about to uprise against the white men invading their territory and digging up the church.
Even more strange things begin to occur: graves turn up empty, hyenas attack for no reason, inside the church is a sacrilegious message left on an upside down wooden cross, and a baby enters the world, stillborn and covered in maggots. Witnessing all of these incidents, Merrin isn’t the least bit shy about venturing into the church with no protection, opening up tombs, and digging up graves at night. He begins to understand what’s going on slowly. Someone becomes possessed, and Merrin is the only righteous man to perform the exorcism once he accepts God again.
Okay, the plot isn‘t important. But I have several issues nonetheless. Need we witness atrocities accomplished by the Nazis as well as the gratuitousness of chopped off heads, eyes gauged out, skewered limbs, a child being torn apart, maggot-covered babies, bones literally breaking through the skin, at least a hundred thousand corpses covering the desert floor, etc? I heard that the original director, Paul Schrader was fired for initially not making the movie scary enough, and one has to wonder what changed by bringing in Renny Harlin (Schrader's film "Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist" isn't much better, but at least Schrader didn't include the laughable scene of the demon running after Merrin in the caverns.)
The only scary moments in the movie come from the loud shocking music accompanying each jolt. Atmosphere alone can create tension, but give yourself some credit when you don’t have to force the audience to jump when you want us to by being loud--let our imaginations do some of the work; actually, our imaginations shut off our brains the second we start to watch these kind of horror films.
This is a plodding mess with endless scenes of a huge desert, a stoic Father Merrin looking around or doggishly fighting his inner demons. When’s the last movie we saw where a priest did not question his faith? Why does anyone ever become a priest when its inevitable they’re going to struggle with it? There’s also plenty of talk about angels and devils, but no real insight or information or even a name regarding the demon that possesses in this movie. And stuck in the middle is a great actor. Stellan Skarsgard is a daring performer who does interesting projects and he does have the gravity and look to play a younger Max Von Sydow. Had Exorcist: The Beginning not had a decent leading star to carry it through, it would rank as one of the worst films of all time, but alas it’ll have to settle for being one of the poorest sequels ever and certainly the worst movie of its year.
The power of Christ, this movie critic and all other good things compel you not to see this atrocious film. D-
