Other Titles • Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) • Exorcist 4:1 (2002) • Exorcist IV: The Beginning • Exorcist Prequel • Exorcist: Dominion • Exorcist 4 • The Exorcist: Dominion
Synopses for Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
1.
The prequel to The Exorcist. The scariest movie of all time. Having abandoned his faith in God, Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard) joins a British archaeological excavation in Kenya, where an inexplicably pristine Christian Byzantine church has been unearthed - looking as if it had been buried on the day it was completed. But beneath the church, something much older sleeps, waiting to be awoken. As madness swiftly descends upon the villagers and British soldiers, Merrin watches helplessly as atrocities are committed against an innocent village - atrocities he had seen before and 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, Merrinm will finally see its true face.
(20 votes)
2.
"This movie is cursed!" exclaimed movie-magazine headlines regarding Exorcist: The Beginning, but those dire warnings turned out to be exaggerated. Considering a tumultuous production history that actually did seem cursed, Renny Harlin's much-maligned prequel to The Exorcist is a surprisingly competent, serious-minded shocker filled with the same anxious foreboding that made the 1973 original so phenomenally effective. The story lacks focus and feels cobbled together (perhaps the result of its tortured development, which included the untimely death of original director John Frankenheimer), but Stellan Skarsgård is well-cast as Father (now Mr.) Merrin, a lapsed Catholic priest summoned to East Africa in 1949 to retrieve a demonic idol. He discovers a buried church, a vast underground cavern, demonic possession, and a legacy of carnage that preys upon guilt-ridden memories from his parish in Nazi-occupied Holland. Harlin delivers the gross-out moments that Warner Brothers demanded, but otherwise shows remarkable restraint while cinematographer Vittorio Storaro delivers doom-laden visual atmosphere. It's not the classic many were hoping for--not even close--but it's still a win-win scenario for horror fans, since it's rumored the unreleased and "abandoned" version directed by Paul Schrader will be paired with this film for its DVD release. Comparisons will no doubt prove interesting. --Jeff Shannon
DVD features The sparse special features on the DVD release of Exorcist: The Beginning are a commentary track by director Renny Harlin and a brief making-of featurette. Together they give scant insight to a movie that should have been better received in its theatrical release, if only for the pedigree of its franchise. The best thing about the movie is its ambitiously art-directed period plotline that shows Father Merrin's (Stellan Skarsgård) first brush with the demon that would bedevil the same character in William Friedkin's 1973 masterpiece, The Exorcist. Skarsgård is believable as a younger version of the older movie's Merrin, Max von Sydow, and he discusses his apprehension about filling such famous shoes in the documentary. But there are precious few behind-the-scenes details related in interview segments with Harlin and the film's producer. It's a typically run-of-the-mill DVD extra, heavy on clips and with nary a word about the infamous version filmed by Paul Schrader, then scrapped by the studio in favor of one with more gore and overt frights. (There were rumors of a DVD release containing both versions, but that plan was apparently scuttled.) Harlin's commentary is only slightly more enlightening--he talks a lot about the delights and logistics of shooting in Rome's famed Cinecitta Studios--but again, he's mum on being called in late to render an alternate prequel to one of the '70s all-time-great movies. The famous Exorcist curse did stay with him, however. He was hit by a car early on in the production and directed most of the movie on crutches. --Ted Fry
(20 votes)
3.
In the aftermath of World War II, Lancaster Marin finds himself in the remote Turkana region of Kenya. Haunted by memories of the war, he has taken sabbatical from the priesthood and journeyed far from his native Holland. He has come to lead the archeological excavation of a mysterious, Byzantine church, buried in pristine condition as if on the day it was completed. Directly underneath the church, Merrin discovers a much more ancient crypt- and finds himself face-to-face with unspeakable Evil.
Madness descends on 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’d hoped to never see again. The blood of innocents flows freely on the East African plain, but the horror has only just begun…
(20 votes)
4.
God is not here today, priest.
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.
(20 votes)
5.
Exorcist: The Beginning traces the story of Father Merrin back to his first encounter with the Devil during his missionary work in Africa.
(20 votes)
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