Review of Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) by Derek H — 16 Jan 2012

I went in pessimistically thinking what a terrible idea it was to make sequels or prequels of the greatest horror film ever and how it should stand alone untainted and pristine. I was, however pleasantly surprised, to find this was a good movie that was worthy of its name.

It is a well-written precursor that is linked to the Exorcist by telling the older of the two priests (Father Merrin) first encounter with possession and exorcisms. I was relieved to see that the movie that does not give away anything and was strong enough to stand on its own.

Father Merrin is a good character with an interesting story and he has an intense demon to fight to make it exciting. It is not as scary as the original Exorcist film, but then again no other movie is.

I was happily surprised how good it was and I will be watching this one again.