Maybe Schrader’s more subdued take was really the only way to approach this story. Hopefully one day we can all see the difference.
Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
Tomatometer
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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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Reviews for Exorcist: The Beginning
By the time we get to the real exorcising, it’s too late. We’re bored with, and as, hell.
Not good to be sure, but hardly the unwatchable black hole of Suck we had been led to anticipate.
...I had goose-bumps on my goose-bumps clear to the top of my head...
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.
'If you can't scare 'em, repulse 'em' would appear to be the motto of Exorcist: The Beginning.
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.
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.
Let's hope Exorcist: The Beginning marks the end of a franchise that never should have gone beyond the 1973 original
Plenty violent. And bloody. And gory. What it isn't -- not really -- is scary.
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.
Trips over itself in a rush to get gross and then lingers too long on pustules, gaping wounds and maggots.
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.
If you're looking for groundbreaking badness, you needn't look much further than the new Exorcist prequel, which is one interminably grisly waste.
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.
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.
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. ![]()
More...
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| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
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