[Bumblefeet]

I bought this couple of weeks ago, very nice transfer with the extras from the dvd ported over.

I remember when this Exorcist prequel was in trouble. I had been following the development with reading snippets here and there, of composers who got changed, and of course directors. I am a big fan of the original Exorcist as well as part III by Blatty, both movies I revisit often and find compelling cinema. I could not wait to see what they would present as a prequel 'focusing on father Merrin's first encounter with evil', expectations were high.

When this version "Exorcist: Beginning" by Renny Harlin finally emerged, I was repulsed by it. Drenched in bad dialogue, horror clichés, over the top CGI and not to mention too many similarities to Exorcist II, it was a mess. I saw pictures online of Exorcist writer Blatty and then rejected director Schrader attending a screening and laughing at that version. Of course I was dieing to see the version Schrader had made; after all, Blatty's own Exorcist III got cut and mangled, with reshoots and a different ending. Morgan Creek basically repeated the same mistake by first greenlighting a script for Exorcist III with no exorcism in it, and subsequently hiring Schrader for an intelligent prequel but ended up going with popcorn Die Hard Renny Harlin for a makeover...

Fast forward to when Schrader came to Brussels for the premiere screening of his version Dominion, which I attended. He brought along most of the cast to introduce the picture, Stellan Skarsgard had made a video message to speak about the Schrader version. So we got to see it and although I find it a better film than Harlin's version (which was not difficult to do), it still pales in comparison to the original Exorcist and should not have made the mistake (that Exorcist II also did) of going into Africa and taking on Father Merrin's past. It just didn't work. Though at least the Schrader version treats the whole colonialism issue with more sincerity, not to mention the execution flashback (horribly remixed by Harlin for his version), I felt the whole possession of Cheche did not work all that well. But, like I said, still an infinitely better movie than Harlin's which at times looked like The Mummy rather than an Exorcist movie. The fact that Harlin states in the interview on this disc that he intended for you to watch his movie and then The Exorcist as a flawless transition, is an insult to the documentary style and talent Friedkin had as a director to make that movie do what it did. At least Schrader was trying to deliver something similar, though in the end for me he did not succeed.

Both Exorcist: The Beginning as well as Dominion to me showcase the insanity of Hollywood and it's obsessive quest to redo a classic movie not for critical acclaim, but for a repeat of box office return. I would have loved to have seen a making of documentary with behind the scenes or even board meetings with studio execs to see how this mess came to be.

Having watched Harlin's version again on blu-ray, it remains more a joke than a movie I can take serious, but it remains fascinating to watch alongside Schrader's version (I hope will some day also get a blu-ray release) and compare performances, set design, lighting, ... That is a lot of money you see on the screen. Sadly that is about all.