Exorcist: The Beginning
Review by Lori Kapes
 I
saw The Exorcist for the first time just days before
seeing the new movie Exorcist: The Beginning (E:TB).
The original was nothing short of amazing. It was a creepy,
atmospheric, thriller that didn't scare me but haunted me.
If a movie is an immediate classic, like The Exorcist,
then why on earth would you try to capitalise on the success
by making two sequels and a prequel??
Oh, I know... money.
I'm pretty sure you've heard/read about all the drama surrounding
this new movie. Two totally different movies about the same
thing shot back to back with 2 different directors. And finally
the studio picks the supposedly scarier movie of the two.
All the fuss about this project and the movie doesn't even
come close to living up to the original masterpiece. E:TB
follows Lankester Merrin's (Stellan Skarsgard) pursuit to
uncover this centuries old church that was built in Africa
years before christianity ever arrived there.
Guided by a young priest, Father Francis (James D'Arcy),
the former father and archaeologist Merrin begins his search
for what secrets lie inside this church and what's causing
all the weird problems among the villagers. Merrin also meets
the local doctor Sarah (Izabella Scorupco) who has a little
secret of her own.
While searching through the village and the church Merrin
has his beliefs tested and encounters the infamous demon Pazuzu
for the first time.
This plot is really good and interesting, but unfortunately
it was mixed with the director of Deep Blue Sea, Renny
Harlin, which wasn't a very good idea. There were so many
things copied from the first movie that it made me laugh.
There's a little child that may or may not be possessed,
there were subliminal images, a shaky bed, disgusting language,
and other things that I wont say because it might ruin the
movie, although the movie is ruined to begin with.
Besides the clichéd images, the acting was decent.
Stellan Skarsgard is too good of an actor to be in this movie,
period. Izabella Scorupco is a decent actress and her character
is believable. As for the others, they really were just background.
The special effects were horrible. The hyenas looked like
the zombie dogs in Resident Evil the video game. The
opening shot of the village looked like the opening shot of
Moulin Rouge but I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant to
look like a pop-up book like Rouge did.
Another bad thing was the music -- the movie wasn't scary
at all so they try to scare you with random loud music. Pathetic.
Another reason the movie wasn't scary is because it was more
disturbing than scary. I have an idea; let's watch a kid get
eaten alive by hell-bent hyenas while his little brother watches
(that was sarcasm).
Elements of the story were even bad. The story answered some
questions raised by the first Exorcist, but it created
more questions along the way.
I didn't go into the theater expecting to see a horror movie
of the week like Deep Blue Sea or endless blood and
disturbing images like Ghost Ship, I wanted to see
a thought-provoking movie that challenged the original Exorcist.
I'm curious to see the other 'not-scary-enough movie' directed
by Paul Schrader.
1 out of 5
Exorcist: The Beginning
Australian release: Thursday October 28th
Cast: Stellan Skarsgard, Gabriel Mann, Clara Bellar, Billy
Crawford, Ilario Bisi-Pedro.
Director: Renny Harlin.
Website: Click
here.
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