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Movies / On DVD / Exorcist: The Beginning
Exorcist: The Beginning

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Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

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Reviews Counted:126

Fresh:14

Rotten:112

Average Rating:3.5/10

Consensus: A mediocre, gory horror film, nowhere near the quality of the 1973 original.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] strong violence and gore, disturbing images and rituals, and for language including some sexual dialogue

Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Theatrical Release:Aug 20, 2004 Wide

Box Office: $41,784,746

Synopsis: Father Lankester Merrin thinks that he has glimpsed the face of Evil. In the years following World War II, Merrin (STELLAN SKARSGÅRD) is relentlessly haunted by memories of the unspeakable... Father Lankester Merrin thinks that he has glimpsed the face of Evil. In the years following World War II, Merrin (STELLAN SKARSGÅRD) is relentlessly haunted by memories of the unspeakable brutality perpetrated against the innocent people of his parish. In the wake of all he has seen, both his faith in his fellow man and the Almighty have deserted him. He can no longer honestly call himself a man of God. Merrin has traveled far from his native Holland in a desperate attempt to escape the horrors that he witnessed there. While drifting through Cairo, he is approached by a collector of rare antiquities to join a British archeological excavation in the remote Turkana region of Kenya. They have unearthed a Christian Byzantine church in inexplicably pristine condition - as if it had been buried on the day it was completed. The collector wants Merrin, an Oxford-educated archeologist, to find an ancient relic hidden within the church before the British discover it. But beneath the church, something much older sleeps, waiting to be awoken. Madness descends upon the local villagers and the contingent of British soldiers sent to guard the excavation. Merrin watches helplessly as the atrocities of war are repeated against another innocent village - atrocities he had prayed never to see again. The blood of innocents flows freely on the East African plain, and the horror has only just begun. In the place where Evil was born, Merrin will finally see its true face. Warner Bros. Pictures presents, a Morgan Creek production, Exorcist: The Beginning, directed by RENNY HARLIN and starring STELLAN SKARSGÅRD, JAMES D'ARCY and IZABELLA SCORUPCO. The film is produced by JAMES G. ROBINSON, executive produced by GUY McELWAINE and DAVID C. ROBINSON. Story by WILLIAM WISHER and CALEB CARR, screenplay by ALEXI HAWLEY. VITTORIO STORARO serves as cinematographer. The film is edited by MARK GOLDBLATT. Music by TREVOR RABIN. Exorcist: The Beginning will be released on August 20, 2004 by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and internationally by Warner Bros. Pictures and Morgan Creek International. Exorcist: The Beginning has been rated "R" by the MPAA for "strong violence and gore, disturbing images and rituals, and for language including some sexual dialogue." [More]

Starring: Stellan Skarsgard, James D'Arcy, Izabella Scorupco, Ralph Brown

Starring: Stellan Skarsgard, James D'Arcy, Izabella Scorupco, Ralph Brown, Alan Ford

Director: Renny Harlin

Director: Renny Harlin
Screenwriter: Alexi Hawley
Producer: James G. Robinson
Composer: Trevor Rabin
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Release:

Mar 1, 2005

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Exorcist: Dominion traces the story of Father Merrin back to his first encounter with the Devil during his missionary work in Africa.
  • Source: Warner Home Video
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for Exorcist: The Beginning

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    61 - 80 (sorted by date)
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    Maybe Schrader’s more subdued take was really the only way to approach this story. Hopefully one day we can all see the difference.

    Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Brian Orndorf
    Brian Orndorf
    FilmJerk.com

    By the time we get to the real exorcising, it’s too late. We’re bored with, and as, hell.

    Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Eric D. Snider
    Eric D. Snider
    EricDSnider.com

    Not good to be sure, but hardly the unwatchable black hole of Suck we had been led to anticipate.

    Full Review Source: Flipside Movie Emporium | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Rob Vaux
    Rob Vaux
    Flipside Movie Emporium

    ...I had goose-bumps on my goose-bumps clear to the top of my head...

    Full Review Source: Broomfield Enterprise | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi
    Dan Marcucci and Nancy Serougi
    Broomfield Enterprise

    This one won't make your head swivel.

    Full Review Source: jackiekcooper.com | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Jackie K. Cooper
    Jackie K. Cooper
    jackiekcooper.com

    Never feels like anything other than generic, brain-dead, Dolby-jolt, multiplex hackwork -- I kept expecting Skarsgard's habitually catacomb-prowling Merrin to bump flashlights with Lara Croft.

    Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Geoff Pevere
    Geoff Pevere
    Toronto Star
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    'If you can't scare 'em, repulse 'em' would appear to be the motto of Exorcist: The Beginning.

    Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
    Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
    St. Paul Pioneer Press

    It rates fairly high on both the Scare-O-Meter and Gross-Out Scale, with an early hyena attack guaranteed to have you flinching in terror.

    Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Glenn Lovell
    Glenn Lovell
    San Jose Mercury News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    By the time the three or four false endings are finished and the credits roll, moviegoers will be left wondering whether Schrader's version will be released on DVD.

    Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Peter Hartlaub
    Peter Hartlaub
    San Francisco Chronicle

    Let's hope Exorcist: The Beginning marks the end of a franchise that never should have gone beyond the 1973 original

    Full Review Source: Washington Times | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Christian Toto
    Christian Toto
    Washington Times

    Plenty violent. And bloody. And gory. What it isn't -- not really -- is scary.

    Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Jay Boyar
    Jay Boyar
    Orlando Sentinel

    Although Harlin hasn't directed a full-out horror movie since 1988's A Nightmare on Elm Street IV, he seems to have spent most of the time since memorizing them.

    Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Stephen Whitty
    Stephen Whitty
    Newark Star-Ledger
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    It's not despicable. It is merely boring.

    Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Jack Mathews
    Jack Mathews
    New York Daily News
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Trips over itself in a rush to get gross and then lingers too long on pustules, gaping wounds and maggots.

    Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Gemma Tarlach
    Gemma Tarlach
    Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

    A perfectly mediocre horror film.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Kevin Crust
    Kevin Crust
    Los Angeles Times

    The pacing is slack, and the increased level of blood and guts seems like a desperate move. And most of the special effects (especially the CGI work) are really shoddy.

    Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Jeff Vice
    Jeff Vice
    Deseret News, Salt Lake City

    If you're looking for groundbreaking badness, you needn't look much further than the new Exorcist prequel, which is one interminably grisly waste.

    Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Wesley Morris
    Wesley Morris
    Boston Globe
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Despite a high body count, shock cuts and loud noises, this prequel to William Friedkin's 1973 horror film fails to deliver any palpable shivers.

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    08/23/04
    Manohla Dargis
    Manohla Dargis
    New York Times

    The film focuses too much on gore and weird special effects.

    Full Review Source: Entertainment Spectrum | comment Comment
    08/22/04
    Vince Koehler
    Vince Koehler
    Entertainment Spectrum

    Ignoring the essentially inward story of The Exorcist, [Harlin] has created a sprawling anything-for-a-jolt movie, more in the spirit of a midnight teen-scream flick than a portrayal of a dark night of the soul.

    Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
    08/22/04
    Liam Lacey
    Liam Lacey
    Globe and Mail
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic
     
     
    61 - 80 (sorted by date)
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    Latest News for Exorcist: The Beginning

    May 31, 2009: Five Favourite Films with Renny Harlin
    Finnish director Renny Harlin has one of the most schizophrenic CVs in movie-dom. He's directed some of the most beloved action films of the last 20 years, including Die Hard 2,... More...

    April 14, 2005: Schrader's Exorcist Prequel Gets a Release Date
    Remember all the hoopla that surrounded last year's "Exorcist: The Beginning"? How the execs didn't like Paul Schrader's cut so they hired Renny Harlin to do the whole... More...

    December 09, 2004: Schrader's Shelved Exorcist Sequel to See Limited Release in '05
    Moviehole chimes in with an exclusive scoop update on Paul Schrader's version of "Exorcist: The Beginning": "Why isn't Paul Schrader's cut of "The Exorcist:... More...

    June 11, 2004: Gene Wilder has been dug up and is narrating the trailer for The Exorcist. Opens in new window
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