Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist (2005)

That was an excellent one.

Simply A Masterpiece

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

All the The Exorcist movies are very scary. This one is a remake of the prequel Exorcist the beginning. This is the scariest of the Exorcist movies. They are all scary. But this one is the scariest. It is one the scariest movies ever made. This movie has a great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. If you do not get scared of this movie then no movie will scary you. A church that was buried in Africa is dug up. No one knows it's origins. An archaeologist is who is a former priest is sent to sight. It turns out a demon was buried with the church. Now that he his feel he has possessed some one. All the Exorcist movies are must sees.

This is awful in a different way than the execrable Renny Harlin version. There is no scene you can point to that convinces you why Paul Schrader had to make this movie. He's made some real junk before, but it's shocking to see a Schrader movie that invokes no ideas whatsoever. To pretend like this has depth (and that was the reason it was suppressed) requires completely broken sense organs. Schrader can mark 2005 as the year he finally sold his soul completely, and eradicated the very last spark of intellect in his movies. Not helping things, is Gabriel Mann as Father Francis, who weighs about 95 pounds, has a distractingly sunken chest, and is off-putting in his over-emoting and sincerity. He is a very poor actor, and I was rooting for the earnest, whiny runt to get it good. Catholic overdramatics are the whole show. The possessed figure this time is silly and poorly dubbed. If you can't do better than Regan in '74 you really should skip the movie. Schrader is too much of a visual pornographer (pretty surfaces) to get anything out of this. All the sets, which are supposed to look eons old instead look like they were constructed one week earlier, then scrubbed clean again, an hour before filming. Skarsgaard goes for a contemplative evening walk at one point and passes multiple bright, sparkling clean brick walls that look exactly like a cheap set.

Father Merrin assists a team of archaeologists who unearth a church. At first, Merrin resists the idea that supernatural forces are in play but an encounter with a demon inside a boy may change his mind.Dominion is the Prequel to the Exorcist (1973), the story is engaging, however like Harlin's Exorcist: The Beginning it's doesn't capture the tone of the Exorcist and feels more like a TV movie.The story of Dominion is very interesting, probably more so that the above mentioned Harlin's version but isn't as technically pleasing. It just can't getaway from that television look, the script is clunky, the sets are not dressed very well and the lighting is poor. The acting is more theatrical and the lack subtle cuts make it feel a far smaller film.Opening scene of the film is certainly very effective as Merrin faces the Nazi's. Nevertheless, it does have other faults especially the CGI effects. However, Ralph Brown as Sergeant Major is very good (and his screen time is sadly limited in Harlin's version).It works more as psychological horror but there are too many distractions to engross you, again like 'The Beginning' what makes this film interesting is the fact there are two films that utilise much of the same story, sets and actors. Watch only as an exercise.

I am not going to go into any detail other than what is needed to be said. Many have slated this for poorer special effects than were meant to be available at the time. Many people slate it for taking place in only a very few places. These would be fine complaints to a large budget film - but the studio was more interested in funding the Renny Harlin version of schlock horror "exorcist" than helping Paul Schrader to achieve his own superior idea here. Left largely out the dry, he did its best.A film must be rated against its circumstances. And for a low budget film that defied it's original studio to be made and come out such a well written and well acted piece, is enough to be forgiven for minimal sets and dated effects. If anything, the fact they pushed on and their dedication is clear in every shot, makes me appreciate their efforts even more.Not just a film about faith and good battling evil, but about faith and an independent director battling the studio. See it.