The story takes up after Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard, a fine actor in a terrifyingly horrible role) has lost his faith and is strictly an archaeologist. Priesthood a thing of his past – or so he says – he’s nonetheless called upon to go check out a mysterious church that’s been found buried in pristine condition in Africa. Once there, things go bad pretty quickly and Merrin’s called upon to return to God and put the Devil in his place.
Just as quickly as things go wrong in Africa, things go bad with this film. A few minor plot holes here and there I can put up with, but this thing is loaded with cavernous plot holes so deep you’d need a third attempt at “The Beginning” to put straight. One of the last things you want to do in a horror movie is bore the audience, and this is a snorefest interrupted briefly by a only a few semi-decent moments.
As for the direction, whenever something scary was about to happen, you could almost hear director Renny Harlin calling out, “Cue the sunset.” Scenes went from broad daylight to the darkness of night without any rhyme or reason. And maybe it’s the devil in me, but I had a hard time believing a skilled archaeologist would do the things the screenwriter had Father Merrin do. Exploring unknown areas of a buried church alone, in the dark, without a clue, without any back-up, without thinking things through, was beyond stupid.
And just because the film is set 25 years prior to 1973’s “The Exorcist,” doesn’t mean the make-up and effects have to look totally dated. Anyone who’s seen the original can more than likely bring up a pretty vivid mental picture of Linda Blair in full-on demon make-up. Exiting the “The Beginning,” I was working hard on trying to erase all memory of this prequel’s effects. I don’t want this one’s lame efforts to in any way taint the memory I have of the first film. By trying to copy the first one so closely, this movie attempts unsuccessfully to get in your good graces by inserting deja vu-inducing scenes that are but pale comparisons to the original film. The copycat feel probably won’t sit well when true “Exorcist” fans get a look at this chaotic, second-rate attempt.
I was expecting something original, something with some bite to it, something that’d keep me up late at night and make me sleep with a nightlight on. Instead, “Exorcist: The Beginning” turned out to be more laughable than scary, more boring than horrifying. I never felt the urge to scream, never once jumped in my seat, but I did join with the rest of the audience in laughing at places I'm positive weren't intentionally funny.
“Exorcist: The Beginning” will hopefully put an end to the franchise. Or maybe this is one of those projects that suffers from the ‘every other one’ syndrome, in which case the next one could be decent. 1 was terrific, 2 was an abomination, 3 recovered nicely, and 4 just joined 2 on the ‘don’t see it unless you’re being paid to sit through it’ list. I’m really wondering whatever possessed the studio to scrap Paul Schrader’s version and release this one in theaters. Surely the first attempt couldn’t be worse than this, could it? It doesn’t seem possible.
GRADE: D-
"Exorcist: The Beginning" was directed by Renny Harlin and is rated R for strong violence and gore, disturbing images and rituals, and for language including some sexual dialogue.
