Exorcist: The Beginning is a prequel to one of the best known horror films of the 20th Century. This time around Stellan Skaarsgard steps into the Father Merrin role that was originally played by another Swedish actor Max Von Sydow. Lancaster Merrin is a priest who lost his faith due to a horrific act that occurred during the war. He is now just simply an archaeologist investigating a strange discovery. In the African desert a church was uncovered. A 1,500 year old church that was so perfectly preserved that it appears to have been buried the moment it was finished. A sequence of events tests Merrin's limits as he uncovers the truth behind the evil at work. It covers the events referred to in the original film, Merrin's first exorcism and his meeting with Pazuzu.
I was skeptical at first due to the nasty problems that plagued the film (namely the original version was shot by Paul Schrader who was later tossed out by Warner and replaced by Renny Harlin, who dumped most of Schrader's version and re-shot a different script} and just the fact that it had hard shoes to film. But when I saw it in the theater I was pleasantly surprised to see a film with some excellent performances (Skaarsgard in particular) and several decent "boo" scenes and an overall satisfactory atmosphere and very strong sound effects track. A few minor quibbles aside, mostly due to CGI believability that don't detract too much from this decent scary movie.
I was skeptical at first due to the nasty problems that plagued the film (namely the original version was shot by Paul Schrader who was later tossed out by Warner and replaced by Renny Harlin, who dumped most of Schrader's version and re-shot a different script} and just the fact that it had hard shoes to film. But when I saw it in the theater I was pleasantly surprised to see a film with some excellent performances (Skaarsgard in particular) and several decent "boo" scenes and an overall satisfactory atmosphere and very strong sound effects track. A few minor quibbles aside, mostly due to CGI believability that don't detract too much from this decent scary movie.