Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writers (WGA):

William Peter Blatty (movie The Exorcist)
William Wisher Jr. (story) ...

Release Date:

20 August 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

A new chapter of evil

Plot:

Years before Father Lancaster Merrin helped save Regan MacNeil's soul, he first encounters the demon Pazuzu in East Africa. This is the tale of Father Merrin's initial battle with Pazuzu and the rediscovery of his faith.

Plot Keywords:

Church | Faith | Kenya | Atrocity | Archeologist

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Stellan Skarsgård	...	Father Merrin
Izabella Scorupco	...	Sarah
James D'Arcy	...	Father Francis
Remy Sweeney	...	Joseph
Julian Wadham	...	Major Granville
Andrew French	...	Chuma
Ralph Brown	...	Sergeant Major
Ben Cross	...	Semelier
David Bradley	...	Father Gionetti
Alan Ford	...	Jefferies
Antonie Kamerling	...	Lieutenant Kessel
Eddie Osei	...	Emekwi
Israel Aduramo	...	Jomo
Patrick O'Kane	...	Bession
James Bellamy	...	James

Also Known As:

Exorcist IV: The Beginning (USA) (working title)
Exorcist Prequel (USA) (working title)
Exorcist: Dominion (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and gore, disturbing images and rituals, and for language including some sexual dialogue.

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Germany:16 | Singapore:M18 (video rating) (cut) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18PL | South Korea:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:18 (theatrical release) | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Brazil:16 | Canada:18A | Czech Republic:12 | Finland:K-18 | Hong Kong:IIB (original rating) | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:NC-16 (heavily cut) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #41064)

Filming Locations:

Casablanca, Morocco

Company:

Morgan Creek Productions

Trivia:

The producers considered bringing back William Friedkin back to direct.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Merrin enters the church for the first time, his guide hands him a lantern when he steps off the ladder, but after Merrin walks forward, the guide is still holding a lantern. He may have had two, but later, when the second priest comes down, the guide no longer has a lantern.

Quotes:

Father Merrin: Having orgies including goats doesn't make them possessed, simply horny... and inventive.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "E! True Hollywood Story: Curse of the Exorcist" (2004)

Soundtrack:

Hurry Back

Too brutal, no substance

What do you do when you're stuck with making the third sequel to a long-ago horror classic, and the two previous sequels have played out every possible angle? Why, you make everything as gory and bloody and exploitative as possible, far exceeding all three previous films' violence and gore quotient. You also hire a hack director, in this case Renny Harlin, because any reputable director would either: A. refuse to make this, or B. never be able to top the original, anyhow. In THE EXORCIST, William Friedkin directed a masterpiece to which there should never have been a followup, simple as that. EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING should have been a straight-to-video release, for all the special effects and bloody killings and panoramic desert shots. Stellan Skarsgard is saddled with following in Max Van Sydow's considerable footsteps as a younger Father Merrin in this so-called prequel, and no one else in the cast is worthy of note. There's no Linda Blair or Ellen Burstyn or Jason Miller or J. Lee Cobb here to lend able support. So the whole thing falls on Skarsgard's shoulders, and as mush as I admire the actor, he simply isn't up to it. He spends most of the movie standing around, providing reaction shots to the various doings, which include an endless series of children and adults being shot in the head, some shown repeatedly. As we know, this is really the director's fault. Renny Harlin. How much worse can it get? A couple of scary moments don't make up for all the crap the rest of this film is loaded down with. Plotwise, we have a middle-age, spiritually fatigued Merrin involved in a post-WWII East African dig that unearths the very demon he is destined to meet up with again in a Georgetown townhouse many years later. The good versus evil battle fought here is, shall we say, less than auspicious.