BOTH Exorcist Prequels to be Released on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Scott_MacD]

In a screening and Q&A session of Dominion last night at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Paul Schrader - who told an anecdote about watching Harlin's version of The Beginning with William Peter Blatty - revealed that it is impossible to re-cut WPB's version of Exorcist III.

The elements have been lost. One can hold hope that the editing trims are in some vault alongside the Ark of the Covenant, but I really wouldn't. Sorry.

Dominion was pretty damn good, though.. looking forward to the DVD. The commentary will be almost free of any acidic remarks about Morgan Creek and James G. Robinson.

He also noted that an hour long documentary was made detailing the fiasco of Harlin's and his own movie, but it's not going to show until the bad-blood between the creative parties dies down.

 

[Paul D G]

This was showing in Chicago not long ago. I was hoping it would lead to an eventual DVD release.

-paul

 

[Norm]

Well has anyone seen both versions? Which is better?

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Well, I tore the Renny Harlin version a new one when it came out, and I was hoping that Shrader's version would be better. Was it? Yes and no.

It was SLIGHTLY better than Harlin's IMO, not as flashy, but as I said in the review thread for Harlin's version, it wasn't a story that needed to be told in the first place.

So, in the end, both films end up feeling pointless, I can do without either one of them.

 

[Justin_S]

I caught this one during it's brief theatrical run, and to my surprise, I actually wound up liking it a lot. I hated The Beginning. Absolutely hated it. While both films were taken from the same script, and the stories are quite similar, I thought Schrader's was so much more interesting and better executed. Of course, there are some big differences, all of which are for the better.

The film is much more subtle, especially during the climax. Where I thought Harlin's film was laughably over the top during the demon confrontation, here it is more eerie and quietly unsettling. The head of the British army has a more substantial role here too, and his fate is actually effective on an emotional level because of this. There are several other differences as well, all of which I wound up enjoying.

There is still some bad CGI work in this version, though not nearly as much as Harlin's had. The hyenas are obviously CG in their first appearance, but they have several more appearances after the initial one, and they look perfectly realistic in these scenes. I wouldn't doubt they used real hyenas. The bad CGI isn't really the fault of Schrader though, as the effects were never finished once Warner stepped in. Neither was the lovely Angelo Badalamenti score.

The actors seem better and more energized in their performances, likely due to this being shot first while they had to do it all over again for Harlin. I like the choice for the nurse here better than the one in Harlin's version as well. She feels much more authentic in the role.

Overall, I was surprised by how much I wound up enjoying this one. I was looking forward to it, but Harlin's take did make me a little uneasy seeing how the film's were said to be so similar. While similar in structure, such a thing couldn't be further from the truth when comparing the end results, at least IMO. Dominion is a fascinating, cerebral piece of cinema. I rewatched it on DVD a few nights ago, and it was just as strong the second time around. I certainly don't expect everyone to appreciate this film, but it really clicked with me on a variety of levels.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

When I went to see Harlin's BEGINNING, I was very annoyed that Warner had dumped Paul Schrader's version. I was fully prepared to hate Harlin's, but was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a serious story about Father Merrin's loss of faith, due to a flashback he was plagued with regarding the Nazis. I thought Stellan Skarsgard was perfect as a younger Merrin, and the story contained enough "Exorcist" parallels without going too far over the top except for one unfortunate thing -- the absurd ending sequence, which I completely agree was unnecessary and silly. But I enjoyed the movie and it could have been even better if not for that climax.

I figured that Paul Schrader's DOMINION would have to be even BETTER than Harlin's version. But I recently watched it and thought it was severely dull and uninteresting. A real cure for insomnia, and it is evident to me that Warner actually made the right move in going with Harlin instead (although, truth be told, neither film is going to wow audiences in this day and age). I thought Stellan Skarsgard wasn't quite as good in this version, and his Merrin character less interesting. And while this ending isn't "as" dumb as the Harlin ending, it's almost as lame. There are also weak CGI effects in Schrader's, which was another complaint about the Harlin film.

 

[Tim-H.]

I absolutely prefer Schrader's, yet didn't love it. Just had this nagging feeling, like IS there a great film somewhere in that script? If someone described the film to me scene by scene, I'd be enthralled. But while Harlin's version was over the top, Schrader's just felt...flat. (Thought Skarsgard was excellent in both, though.) Still fascinated by the film's history and dual dvd release-might have to pick up a used copy of The Beginning just to round out the set. And I'd love a feature-length doc on the whole debacle, but that will never happen!

 

[Doug Schiller]

WB/Morgan Creek were right to bag the Schrader version. I watched it last night and irregardless of what I thought of it, it would have died at the box office.

They are still at fault for not only green lighting it, I agree with the other member that said it was a story that didn't need to be told, but for not being more involved in the beginning. Schrader can't be blamed when he is working with this movie of the week script.

The start of both movies, with the Nazi element, was very promising. I had a good feeling about both films when I saw it.

Then it goes to some foreign desert place and I'm never quite sure what the danger is and why they are there.

I think Harlin, if I remember correctly, does a better job of explaining why they are digging up the church.

I didn't hate either film, I just didn't care. They weren't scary, the threat was laughable. Merrin basically goes through the exorcism fairly easily. And, ohh, those Northen Lights sure were scary!

 

[Yumbo]

Harlin was more entertaining.

 

[Will K]

I enjoyed Dominion quite a bit, especially some of the visuals.

 

[Vincent_P]

I think that DOMINION is a superb film, and its few faults are solely due to the fact that it didn't have proper finishing funds. It amazes me that some folks think that Morgan Creek did the "right" thing by completely abandoning it and remaking it at the cost of tens of millions of dollars. If Renny Harlin's EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING had made $100-million plus at the box office I might agree, but it did not- it did barely over $40-million, and with a $20-million opening weekend to boot. Schrader's infinitely superior DOMINION could have easily done the same box-office, albeit without the added expense of making an entirely different film AND with at least some high-profile good critical notices to boot. After all, it's not like EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING in any way connected with audiences, or critics...

DOMINION is a thoughtful, superbly acted, and haunting film that's truly worthy of the classic original EXORCIST. We need more horror films like this, as opposed to the mindless dreck we're so often subjected to (like Harlin's EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING, for example). It's one of the best films of 2005 in my opinion.

Vincent

 

[JeffMc]

I think what the majority of people who didn't care for DOMINION are saying is that Morgan Creek was right ONLY in the sense that when they saw Schrader's cut, they knew they had a lousy film on their hands. That's it. Every once in a while, the studio suits can actually detect a stinker when they see it.

Of course, Morgan Creek's decision to remake the same lousy script (which they should never have greenlighted even for Schrader) and spending millions to do so was the dumbest decision of all. Yes, Harlin's film IS bad and it will always have that stigma against it because it's the film that the studio forced on us instead of giving us the original Schrader cut that we all wanted to see. Now that we've seen Schrader's cut with all that added mystique around it of almost being a 'lost film', many of us have come to realize that it stinks just as bad, or maybe even moreso, than Harlin's.

Trust me, I love cerebral horror and character stuff, but DOMINION was turgid and laughable in my eyes. And I'm a pretty big fan of Schrader's work, too. But I don't place the blame all on Schrader's shoulders - it's the terrible script at issue here. Morgan Creek was definitely wrong by throwing any money at that script from day one.

I saw both of the films in the theater. Which one did I think was better? Maybe "better" isn't the word - possibly "less bad" does the job. I can definitely say Harlin's version at least had some energy to it (and, of course, a lot of unintentional laughs at the end). Schrader's version is as bland and sterile as a movie-of-the-week. The big finale in DOMINION with the bald-headed transgender being was just as embarrasing as Harlin's spider-girl was. Just a different actor. But I laughed more at the spider-girl. Bald-boy just came off as dumb. Neither film really offered any substantial character dimension or deeply tackled all the issues of faith taht were brought up. That's the kind of stuff I was really hoping for with DOMINION, but came up empty-handed there as well.

So Morgan Creek wasn't "right" by hiring Harlin to remake this t*rd. Of course not. They should just never have made either of these films to begin with.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

The problem I had with both versions is that they were both far too fantastical and in-your-face and didn't seem to fit within the puzzle of the series.

The one glaring thing that I noticed was that they both ignored a significant piece of dialogue from The Exorcist...

"The exorcism supposedly lasted months, heard it damn near killed him."

In both versions, the exorcism lasted merely hours, if that, and it didn't "damn near kill" Merrin, either.

I'm sorry, but IMO these two films represent the studios assumption that we need to see everything, even though the dialogue we got from the first film about what happened to Merrin was more than sufficiant.

Some stories just aren't necessary to see, this is one of them.

 

[JeffMc]

That's brilliant, John. I couldn't agree more!

We now have 4 tepid hours of HARLIN-SCHRADER film that was all done better in just one line of dialog from the original "THE EXORCIST". And that one line of dialog has more power and mystery than anything in these two useless films.

 

[Norm]

Now that I've seen both versions. I really don't care for either one. If I had to pick one I would take Harlins version at least that felt more like an Exorcist movie.

 

[BrettGallman]

John, I noticed that too. I was expecting the exorcism in "Dominion" to reflect that line of dialogue. At least this one does hint at what's to come, as the demon is now Merrin's advesary (I really can't remember if Harlin's version did anything like this).

I thought that "Dominion" was better, but that's not saying much. I think it was just more in line with the original film; the Harlin film was just a little too over the top. I don't think either film really justifies the studio's insistence that this story needs to be told, though. I mean, I don't think anyone was really begging to know more about father Merrin and his first encounter with Satan or whatever the demon's name is (Pazzuzu? I haven't seen "Exorcist 2" in a while).

 

[Joe Karlosi]

and the length and wear and tear of the exorcism should have reflected that line in the original film.

But having said that, I watched both versions recently and think Harlin's version, of either of them, better utilizes the original "EXORCIST" parallels - little touches like the clock stopping, and the images of Pazuzu. It seems more to me like Merrin is recalling THIS encounter with the demon by the time he gets to the original EXORCIST, rather than the one in DOMINION.

And I really don't see what's so "over the top" about BEGINNING, except for the absurd ending. Part of the reason I liked it was because I was prepared for it to be consistently overbearing and over-the-top, and it emerged as a mostly straight-ahead, serious drama of Merrin's crisis of faith. Yes, a few EXORCIST-type features were added too (I mean, this IS an Exorcist film to some degree) but when we talk about "over the top," when you really get right down to it, isn't Friedkin's original classic the most "way out" of them all?

 

[Carl_G]

Lots of dust on the film - dark scenes were riddled with white fleks sparking across the film.

Character development was oversimplified and lacked depth. We saw the character transitions (calling out who to shoot, putting the robe back on, etc), but it really doesn't happen because of the character. It happens because of the script.

The CGI was awesome when compared to, say, the old Land of the Lost TV series.

All in all, it was OK to watch just because I had nothing else to do for a couple of hours.

 

[Vincent_P]

Regarding the "exorcism" comment from the original film by the Priest:

I don't think the Priest in THE EXORCIST is referring to the exorcism we see performed in DOMINION and THE BEGINNING. Remember, in THE EXORCIST, the Priest says Merin was involved in an exorcism "ten years ago"- both the Harlin and Schrader films occur in the late 1940s, well before the 1960s timeframe given by the Priest in THE EXORCIST. What we're seeing in DOMINION (and as a distorted mirror image in THE BEGINNING) is the first time Merin encountered a supernatural evil, period- NOT the specific case mentioned in THE EXORCIST.

Also, keep in mind that the exorcism Merin performs in DOMINION was not sanctioned by the Church- he just goes ahead and performs it on his own, and when he's supposed to be on sabatical on top of that, and probably kept the whole incident from the Church higher ups as a result.

I really love DOMINION and am glad it's out there myself.

Vincent

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Right! How did I forget that? This makes the continuity work a bit better.

That is, unless the Exorcist films are supposed to be "non-continuous", like with LAND OF THE DEAD (sorry, I couldn't resist).