Review of Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) by Jesse M — 19 Nov 2007

After various casting changes, problems on set, budget issues and two director's, this is what they came up with. They figured well this one did not make so much money anyway, might as well show the first version the studio was not happy with, and make some cash back...if any.

This movie starts of where father Merin is still young, just after the second WW, he's lost his faith because of the war and gets invited to a dig where they have discovered a church on top of Lucifer's spot. To make a long story short, bad things start happening to the locals and this is where the movie kicks off, or eh, is suppose to.

After a solid opening which promised much, I was let down over the next 50/60 minutes. The story never really progressed as it was just one gory death after another. Just as I thought alright things are getting interesting, nothing happens. The end was not too bad, but I guess this movie could have been much better had they not used the 'boo scare' factor so much (like in teen slashers). The cgi animals were really bad.

There was still a couple of things I liked about the movie though. Stellan Skarsgard played a good role of father Merin imo and the rest of the cast was not too bad either. Some nice gore here and there, the score written by Graeme Revell and just the overall setting of the film.

It's sad that the film had so many problems but I think it's mainly to blame on the studios as the first director was fired 2/3 into the movie, and another was hired to finish it off. Bad times for some good directors. It'll be interesting to see who's gonna have this turd on his resume.