MOVIE REVIEW FOR "EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING" STARRING STELLAN SKARSGARD, IZABELLA
SCORUPCO, AND JAMES D'ARCY

This film has been in development for years and years, and has gone down as one
of the most bizarre cases of movie making in a very long while. For starters,
Paul Schrader was the original director of the film and was during the editing
stages of production when Warner Brothers scrapped his film and brought in
veteran action director Renny Harlin to redo the project. According to Warner
Brothers, Schrader's version was just not scary enough. Secondly, when Harlin
came in to reshoot, th production experienced troubles with the location --
another film, oddly enough "The Passion of the Christ", was shooting at the
exact same locations and were taking up more time than intended. Eventually,
Harlin finished his version and that is what I viewed in the theatre for close
to two hours. Was it worth the wait and my valuable time? Well...

Stellan Skarsgard stars as Father Lancaster Merrin -- the same priest, played by
Max Von Sydow, who helped drive out Satan in the original film. Alas, he has
lost his faith and serves only as an archaeologist. Father Merrin has been
hired by a group of individuals to find a rare, and equally evil, idol that is
supposedly hidden in a recently unearthed church in Africa. The odd thing --
this church was erected before Christianity came to that part of the world. So,
Father Merrin descends upon Africa, with the assistance of Father Francis (James
D'Arcy), a representative of the Vatican. What they find is a dig site that is
clashing with the local tribe. The tribe is terrified of the church and the dig
site, for they believe a great evil dwells there. Slowly, events happen that
change Father Merrin's perspective on evil. The film essentially deals with
Father Merrin trying to uncover the secrets behind the church and the causes for
all of the odd events occurring around!
the site.

I want to see Paul Schrader's version. It has been called 'slower going' and
'not quite scary enough' by Warner Brothers and those few lucky souls who were
allowed to see a screening. Alas, I feel that Renny Harlin's version tried too
hard to be scary and shocking -- tried too hard to offer something that would
make people of today react in the way people of 1973 reacted with the original.
Sounds are intentionally louder than they should be. There are too many scenes
of complete dark made illuminated by a lamp or torch, only to have something
waiting in the shadows. The sound effects are so overcompensating that, when
Father Merrin picks up a shovel, it sounds like a semi crashing into a brick
wall -- it is that loud and jarring. There is also some unneeded gore involving
a baby being born and some useless flashbacks involving Nazi Germany.

The performances are, for the most part, dead on. Stellan Skarsgard seems a
little tired in the role, which I will contribute to his shooting the same film,
back to back, with different directors. I would be tired too. The remainder of
the cast is, basically, unknown -- people you have never seen before. I am
anxious to see if that is the case in Schrader's version also, or if some of the
cast just didn't agree to come back for a complete reshoot of the entire film.
I know several of the actors Schrader wanted for the film declined due to the
subject matter and the 'accidents' that occurred during the filming of the
others in the series.

In terms of being frightening, Renny Harlin has delivered. I heard people
screaming and gasping throughout the film, and I jumped several times myself --
some being from those 'startle' moments, and some being from sheer 'I don't
wanna look at this'. The music and the build-ups are perfectly timed and Harlin
has managed to give us a few moments that rival some of the scenes from the
original, though this does pale in comparison to the original. I think, once
Schrader's version is released on DVD alongside this one, the public will get to
decide if coherent storylines take precedent over scares and gore. "Exorcist:
The Beginning" was much better than I thought it was going to be, and despite
the overcompensating, is very well made and genuinely frightening.

Stellan Skarsgard (Father Merrin)
Izabella Scorupco (Sarah)
James D'Arcy (Father Francis)
Remy Sweeney (Joseph)
Julian Wadham (Major Granville)
Alan Ford (Jeffries)
Ben Cross (Semelier)

Directed by Renny Harlin

THREE POPS

Billy Ray