"A MILESTONE IN MOVIE HISTORY...A STRONG, TRUE AND INTELLIGENT FILM THAT KEPT ME FASCINATED AND FEARFUL FROM BEGINNING TO END."
-Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
"A GENUINELY STRONG AND POWERFUL FILM. AS SMART AND THOUGHTFUL AS IT IS CREEPY."
-Peter Sobezynski, efilmcritic.com
Boy, I really don’t know what to make of this film. When they said this had a different "feel" than Renny Harlin's re-shoot version, they weren’t kidding......but it's not all that different at the same time. For those of you who need a bit of background on this project, here it is in a nutshell because the history of this film is rather engaging and somewhat interesting to franchise fans.
First of all, before I begin this in-depth analysis of the film and DVD release itself, let me say that after seeing Paul Schrader's originally-intended cut of the prequel to "the scariest movie of all time," I walked away with this inclination: it STILL was not necessary, by ANY means, no matter HOW you slice it. In fact, while film scholars who have seen both versions will disagree, Schrader's version may in fact be even MORE unnecessary because it just drags on and on and on and the inevitable possession/Pazuzu theme doesn't mesh at all with the franchise style. That's the biggest thing I walked away with after watching this, was that, once again, there was a COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY prequel for a landmark horror film that didn't NEED a prequel story whatsoever. With now TWO cuts of this film on the market -- Schrader's Dominion and Renny Harlin's Exorcist: The Beginning, it distracts even MORE from William Friedkin's 1973 original shocker and just continues to "rob" from that film with each viewing of either prequel, in my humble opinion.
Okay, the history of the project. Originally, John Frankenheimer was signed on to helm a "prequel" story that would tell the tale of the early years of Father Lancaster Merrin (played by Max Von Sydow in the original film) and his first encounter with the "demon" that possessed Linda Blair in that first film. Liam Neeson was signed on to play the younger Merrin, but Frankenheimer fell ill, according to rumor, during shooting, and the duties were offered to Paul Schrader (screenwriter of Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver) who immediately saw Stellan Skarsgard (Deep Blue Sea, Good Will Hunting) in the role of the young Merrin. In my opinion, this choice worked, and seemed to be the only saving grace of the prequel idea as Skarsgard plays a very convincing younger version of Von Sydow and we can possibly connect the two in our minds as being the same character just one younger and one older. But the film that Schrader made was ultimately rejected by Warner Brothers and the corporate sharks at Morgan Creek because they felt it didn't have the "shock value" necessary for an Exorcist film, and that it simply wouldn’t draw audiences. They were probably right, because although this is more of a Merrin character study than anything else, the film just plods along at a pace that is simply not accepted by the restless audiences that flood theaters today and simply does not feel like an Exorcist film no matter how hard it tries.
Warner and Morgan Creek actually shelved Schrader's version and decided -- instead of just scrapping the whole idea altogether for a prequel -- to hire someone else to come in and re-shoot a different take on the same idea. Renny Harlin (Deep Blue Sea, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4) was offered the task, and although rushed at a much faster pace than Schrader's cut and ultimately being a schlock CGI-infested modern-day shocker more than a "character study" of Merrin and his first encounter with the demon, Warner Brothers liked it better and released it to the theaters. Public reaction was minimal at best, drawing hardcore Exorcist fans like yours truly, but even disappointing them as most felt as I did: this was completely unnecessary and took the timeless "allure and magic" away from Friedkin's 1973 shocker.
Harlin's cut of the film was titled Exorcist: The Beginning and Schrader's Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, but for the first time in almost the history of cinema, Warner Brothers authorized the realization and release of Schrader's cut of the film along with Harlin's (although separated by much time lapsing) so fans could get a glimpse and first-hand look at what was so different about the two pictures. Schrader's version was given a brief theatrical run prior to this DVD release in select theaters throughout the nation to feel out the fanfare reaction to it, but it was ultimately rushed to DVD for home viewing. I admittingly was intrigued by the idea of Schrader's film being available to view if only for comparison to Harlin's, and this was a blind buy for me just recently.
It's funny. Much of the same dialogue is used here in Schrader's cut as in Harlin's, and the scenery and sets are pretty much the same, too. Some actors have been replaced and the story has been tweaked with a bit, but at the end of the day, there is indeed a bit of a different feel for the film as it seems less "mass market oriented" that Harlin's rushed version did and plays like less of a horror film and more of a drama. As aforementioned, Stellan Skarsgard remained in the lead role of a young Father Lancaster Merrin -- the priest who, along with Jason Miller, battled the demonic Pazuzu demon in the original film that took possession of young Linda Blair's body. Where Harlin's film opens with a plot suggesting an army had fell upon the spot where "Lucifer" (Satan) fell after the war in heaven somewhere in Africa, Schrader's cut takes a different approach but still keeps the theme of Merrin bearing witness to World War II atrocities performed by the German Nazis. The opening scene of Dominion finds Skarsgard in German-occupied Holland during World War II, where a German officer demands Merrin pick 10 Jews from a town lineup in order to be executed or he will murder everyone in the village. When Merrin refuses and offers himself for sacrifice, the officer begins shooting people until Merrin has no choice but to pick out people for slaughter. This leads to his ultimate self-removal from the priesthood as he has lost all faith in man and G-d (something the "demon" Pazuzu uses against him in later scenes in both films).
Schrader's film then pretty much follows Harlin's (well, even though it was made FIRST), where Merrin, now not a priest anymore but an archaeologist, is told about the finding of a strange church that has been unearthed in Africa in a place and from a time not coinciding with the advent of Christianity. While made much clearer in Harlin's version, where Merrin is "hired" by a collector of rare objects to find a demon statue of the infamous Pazuzu in the church, we are not really clear in Schrader's version why or how Merrin gets involved with the British military who have a stronghold on this African village and are coordinating the unearthing of the strange church. He ultimately arrives in Africa to assist in the undigging of the church and to discover why this church was built and by whom and it is here that we are introduced to some same and some different characters from Harlin's film. Major Granville, the British military leader heading the troops in the area of the dig, is played by the same actor, but the young priest, Father Francis, sent by the Vatican to investigate for "religious aspects" of the dig, is played here by Gabriel Mann. Also, the concept of the Jewish female doctor at the dig -- who is ultimately possessed by Pazuzu in Harlin's version -- remains here, but is played by a different actress. Amazingly and disappointingly, there remains again horrendous appearances of CGI-created hyenas which encircle the dig site as they did in Harlin's version, and the poor special effects work really takes us out of the film as it did in Harlin's. Also, many aspects of Schrader's film had been changed by Harlin, including the "control" of a young African boy in town by the demon under the church, the whole aspect of the "Pazuzu demon" which is not really explored in Schrader's version and the idol of Pazuzu itself -- a very important part of connecting this film with the original Exorcist that amazingly was utilized more successfully in Harlin's outrageous horror-type picture than in Schrader's quieter character study.
CONTINUED IN PART II OF THE REVIEW...
