Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

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Directed by
Renny Harlin

Written by
William Peter Blatty, William Wisher Jr.

Cast
Stellan Skarsgård, Izabella Scorupco, James D'Arcy, Remy Sweeney, Julian Wadham [more]

Exorcist: The Beginning Reviews

The movie turned out to be a lot better than I expected, but the fact that the movie was rushed stands out like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in New York City. ... minus the FX, the movie was pretty cool and I loved the story and the mythology behind everything. [read review]  --Mr. Disgusting (Bloody-Disgusting.com) The film certainly "looks nice", but it doesn't have anything interesting to say and ultimately turns into an over-the-top, profanity-ridden tete-a-tete between the man who doesn't have faith and the demon itself, which while viscerally invigorating, doesn't really bring any greater meaning to any of it. [read review] 4/10 --'JoBlo' (JoBlo.com) Perhaps the zeitgeist has changed; perhaps movie-goers are more jaded now. Whatever the reason, Exorcist: The Beginning is less terrifying than frustrating, less scary than silly. After three decades, two sequels, and now a prequel, let's hope this is one series the studios won't keep trying to resurrect. [read review] --Ed Owens (CineScene) Harlin's film isn't Friedkin's, and it isn't as good as Blatty's EXORCIST III. But it is surprisingly good. It's a solid horror film with just enough depth to keep us riveted in the characters as well as the story. If I may borrow a page from Unholy's book, it links to the original very well, and could potentially add new dimensions to that film. [read review] --Scott W. Davis (HorrorExpress.com) This is not a great film. This isn't even a quality film. But it avoids the wretchedness expected from its troubled history and delivers a reasonable final product with which one could adequately fill a lazy Saturday afternoon. For all the insurmountablehurdles in its path, Exorcist: The Beginning does its job as well as it can and never looks back; a wise policy when the devil is snapping at your toes. [read review] C --Rob Vaux (Flipsidemovies.com) After more than three decades of waiting for a worthy successor (or more accurately progenitor) to 'The Exorcist', audiences are sure to be disappointed with 'The Beginning', a poorly written, badly executed knockoff that provides few chills. [read review]  --Greg Ursic (Movie-Gurus.com) At one point, it was inconceivable that any big-budget Hollywood picture could rival Exorcist II: The Heretic as the most ridiculous and boring horror movie ever made. It took a stillborn cousin, Exorcist: The Beginning, to come close. [read review]  --Eric Meyerson (FilmCritic.com) Harlin’s version is a lot of noisy tomfoolery that never coalesces into a solid horror yarn, lacking even the beloved pea soup ’n’ rotating noggins that made us quake way back when. Sloppy, confusing, and dull as a dented crucifix. [read review]  --Marc Savlov (Austin Chronicle) Exorcist: The Beginning lacks the warmth of emotions and characters that danced around the edges of the otherwise pitch-dark The Exorcist and ultimately missteps by trying to impersonate superior scenes from that film. [read review]  --Dustin Putman (The Movie Insider) A better story line and view to the movie could of been the key but after two attempts at making it still didn't get there in the end. Never the less I'm judging the movie for itself and it isn't that bad of a movie. [read review]  -- (terrorwatch.net) The acting is serviceable at best, the direction unfocused - and the special effects and makeup cheesy-looking. This is surely the most dreary-looking film ever shot by the great Vittorio Storaro ("Apocalypse Now"). [read review]  --Lou Lumenick (New York Post) Harlin achieves a few moments of delicious creepiness early on, before we realize the story isn’t going anywhere. By the time we get to the real exorcising, it’s too late. We’re bored with, and as, hell. [read review] D+ --Eric D. Snider (EricDSnider.com) It's certainly the franchise's most graphically violent instalment, but if an Exorcist movie should be measured by whether it re-visits you in bed at night, then here Harlin has failed. [read review] -- (slasherama.com) “Exorcist: The Beginning” makes a critical error, and once again lets down the franchise with another overheated attempt to jolt audiences instead of creeping them out. [read review] D+ --Brian Orndorf (FilmJerk.com) Exorcist: The Beginning, the long-coming and heavily troubled fourth film in the once-respected, now-desecrated series, is quite possibly the worst movie of the year. [read review] --Don Kaye (horrorchannel.com) There's been a tremendous struggle to bring Exorcist: The Beginning to theaters, and having seen the end result, it's hardly been worth it. [read review]  --David Nusair (Reel Film Reviews) EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING, spends virtually all of its time trying to convince us that there was a reason for it to be made. [read review]  --Andrea Chase (Killer Movie Reviews) A plodding mess of a movie, with very few frights, and those that are there are all timeworn clichés. [read review] 53/100 --Brian Webster (Apollo Guide)

• review by JoBlo
• review by Jon Popick
• review by Robin Clifford
• review by Steve Rhodes