Dominion - Prequel To The Exorcist Dvd Review Part Ii

D

DJ Scotty

Banned
The plot here is pretty much the same -- a temple where human sacrifices took place has been discovered under a pristine-conditioned church in Africa, but the "notion" and mystery behind the "Pazuzu" demon, as explored in Harlin's prequel and Friedkin's 1973 original, is not explored here at all from what I could tell; instead of finding the infamous Pazuzu statue that Max Von Sydow stumbles across in the beginning of the original, Merrin and Father Francis stumble upon a different-looking demon statue that looks NOTHING like the Pazuzu idol or statue from Harlin's prequel or Friedkin's original under the church. Instead of us being surprised that the Jewish nurse is the one possessed by Pazuzu all along, here in Schrader's version, a strange crippled boy (Billy Crawford) from the surrounding town near the dig site makes appearances to a very sympathetic Merrin, and this aspect is what made Schrader's version just so bizarre in nature compared to Harlin's; as madness descends upon the village, as it did in Harlin's cut, due to the influence of this evil force under the church, this crippled boy becomes a focal point in the film -- I suppose Schrader found it necessary to somehow tie in Merrin's encounter with this demon in Africa as hinted at in the original 1973 Exorcist, and he did it through this boy, but for me, it just didn’t work. As the Jewish nurse in this film takes the boy in to care for, suddenly, over a period of days, his crippled characteristics begin to mysteriously reverse themselves until they are almost gone. Here is where the "Father Francis" character played a different role in the two films as well, as instead of James D'aarcy from Harlin's film knowing the history of the mysterious church and that the evil had control of another young African boy along with the possessed doctor, here, Gabriel Mann is attacked by this healing crippled boy who suddenly has glowing red eyes and seems to be possessed himself when Mann attempts to bless the boy. Of course, as much as Schrader wanted this to be a "character study" drama -- which it pulls off for the most part -- there had to be the prerequisite exorcism/possession theme otherwise it just wouldn’t be an Exorcist film, but it is handled in such a strange fashion by Schrader that I just DIDNT know what to make of it by the end.

Mann's character pleads with Merrin to believe that this boy is possessed -- but Merrin, as explored in Harlin's version as well, has already lost faith and doesn’t believe in evil or demons; it is only until Mann's Father Francis character attempts to baptize the boy inside the strange church and he is attacked by the demon inside that Merrin arrives and believes once again in good and evil and must once again ask for his faith to be restored as he prepares to perform an exorcism on this strange once-crippled but now possessed boy -- why this is ultimately necessary for Merrin to do, instead of just getting the hell away from there, is never made clear. The end confrontation between Merrin and this boy who has now completely transformed into a creepy-looking bald demonic "creature" of sorts that can levitate above the ground and throw Merrin about without touching him, gets a bit far-fetched and I didn’t like it compared to Harlin's version, which suggested that the demon that was inside Linda Blair in the first film was very much like the demon which possessed the female doctor in Harlin's version of the prequel; the same cuts on the face, same glowing green/yellow eyes and same vile language that Linda Blair spewed at Max Von Sydow and Jason Miller in The Exorcist. There seems to be NO connection between that so-called "Pazuzu" demon that possessed Blair and this levitating possessed boy with now glowing red eyes who speaks to Merrin in a very low, seductive manner -- no horrific cursing, no demonic, echoing cackling; the final "exorcism" scene is simply weak and ineffective as we have Merrin simply waving the cross around his neck at the hissing bald possessed boy as he draws away from the exorcising priest. Harlin's ending, while over-the-top and cheesily copied from the effects of the final scene in the original 1973 film, actually just seemed much more effective and convincing in the whole "Pazuzu" theme -- although Harlin got a few things wrong there too, as Merrin loses the idol of Pazuzu in the sandstorm at the end of Harlin's version, where it is suggested that Max Von Sydow finds it and unearths the demon once again in the 1973 original -- however, Merrin finds the statue head of Pazuzu in NORTHERN IRAQ in The Exorcist yet the head is lost and buried by the sand in AFRICA at the end of The Beginning so this made things very confusing.

And there is absolutely nothing that ties the first film from 1973 in with Schrader's prequel aside from the fact that Merrin has regained his faith and has become a priest once again, as we are left kind of hollow and empty at the end; Merrin simply draws "The Devil" or "this demon" (NEVER made clear in ANY Exorcist film) out of this boy in a horrible exorcism scene, where he returns with his crippled wounds to assist the Jewish doctor in her hospital chores. It was a very weak ending in my opinion, and the whole thing with this crippled kid transforming into this red-eyed "demon" was confusing and ineffective, making NO hints to the Pazuzu statue that seemed so important in Friedkin's original 1973 film yet utilized in Harlin's overtly-criticized cut of the prequel.

This is a rental at best; because I already purchased it and I am a massive fan of the entire franchise, I will probably keep it just to have the two cuts of the prequel story on hand to compare to one another, but to me, this is just as ineffective and just as unnecessary of a prequel story than Harlin's was for a landmark horror film that really needed no explanation whatsoever and stands on its own and probably will until the end of time.

CONTINUED IN PART III OF THE REVIEW...
 
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