Exorcist: The Beginning (Renny Harlin, 2004) or Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (Paul Schrader, 2005)
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a.khan
- Joined: Sat May 20, 2006 7:28 am
- Location: Los Angeles
I was very disappointed, and it's not even that I had high expectations of it. Though the opening scene grabs your attention, I felt really let down after that...the whole thing is just riddled by sloppy direction and, particularly, bad dialogue. Don't get me wrong: the creep factor is well and there, but this could have easily been a TV movie of the week. The film's greatest success may be in being treated much favourably than the Renny Harlin version.John Cope wrote:No. Why do you think so?
Shrader's film, in my humble opinion, is a curiosity for students of film history. The circumstances surrounding its release prove more fascinating than the film itself.
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John Cope
- Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 9:40 pm
- Location: where the simulacrum is true
Well, that's certainly true. And yet I think you're doing the Schrader film a bit of an injustice. The contrast between his and Harlin's version is very instructive and valuable.a.khan wrote:Shrader's film, in my humble opinion, is a curiosity for students of film history. The circumstances surrounding its release prove more fascinating than the film itself.
Harlin's version is godawful sensationalism, complete with a climactic face off that had me roaring "MORTAL COMBAT!" as I viewed it. It also includes a variation on the ol' Scary Face Guy--the character whose mere presence is apparently meant to be enough to induce chills. I will give it one thing though; the pseudo-exorcism around the boy's bed is surprisingly well cut together and effective. That's about it, though.
Schrader's version, by contrast, emphasizes philosophical dialogue and internal strife. These are not the most cinematic of qualities I'll grant you but I admired the fact that he dared to come at in this way (though I would have expected little else). There was never any question that it would be received poorly by the powers-that-be and I think we're lucky it looks as good as it does given the job he had of reconstructing this material after the fact. Okay, the CGI is piss poor but it is in the Harlin version, too. Schrader's cut has a stately, grave solemnity and draws heavily upon source film styles of the 40's for its look and pace. And quite frankly the inversion of the expected possession motif was so inspired I would be willing to forgive it much else.