World Famous Comics: Dominion - Prequel to the Exorcist
Dominion - Prequel to the Exorcist
Starring: Stellan Skarsgård, Gabriel Mann, Clara Bellar, Billy Crawford (II), Ralph Brown Directed By: Paul Schrader Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 25, 2005 Running Time: 116 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Product Description: Historic filmmaking! 2 filmmakers take on the same film. The original prequel to The Exorcist by Paul Shrader. The film traces the story of Father Lankester Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard) back to his first encounter with the Devil in post-WW II Africa.Running Time: 116 min.System Requirements:Running Time 116 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: R UPC: 012569736061
Amazon.com: Horror buffs will surely be compelled to compare and contrast Dominion with Exorcist: The Beginning, two films weirdly linked by film history. Director Paul Schrader shot Dominion only to find studio bosses underwhelmed by its horror aspects, at which point Renny Harlin was hired to direct another take on the subject with the same lead actor, setting, and similar storyline. That became the 2004 theatrical release Exorcist: The Beginning.
As expected, the Schrader version has more tortured religiosity and visual poetry than Harlin's cheesier (but admittedly gripping) re-do. Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard) carries his guilt from the Nazi occupation to a remote African archaeological dig, where a mysteriously buried church has been uncovered. Strange stuff happens nearby, and a fervent young priest (good performance by Gabriel Mann) parries spiritual points with the now-doubting Merrin. Some of the ideas are strong and the sun-and-sand cinematography by the great Vittorio Storaro is often stunning. As beautiful as the film is to look at, it must be admitted that the climax is disappointingly flat, the leading lady (Clara Bellar) is a washout, and one begins to yearn for the occasional genre shock of the kind Schrader was able to conjure up in his remake of Cat People. If you're an Exorcist fan, watch it for its serious treatment of Merrin's crisis, which ties in to his character in the 1973 original. --Robert Horton
I recommend! It's a must see to any Exorcist fan, and has never been released in Brazil.
"I am your enemy now till the end of time." Schrader's "Dominion" has been misunderstood, as evidenced by the public reaction to it. To my mind, this is one of his greatest accomplishments as a screenwriter and, along with "The Exorcist 3", the best addition to the "Exorcist" trilogy. (Renny Harlin's hilarious "Beginning" doesn't deserve even one viewing.)
Stellen Skarsgard gives a believable, serious performance as Father Lancaster Merrin, an exceptional priest who will eventually have to give his life fighting an evil which has targeted him specifically for the quality of his faith.
Nope, sorry to most horror fans in advance; there's not an upside down cross every five minutes and there are no spinning heads or buckets of pea soup vomit. You're going to have to rely on dialogue, atmosphere, and a a few bone chilling scares. A half hour of this film is preferable to the entire cinematic output of Renny Harlin.
The film begins with Merrin finding himself in one of the worst conceivable positions a priest can; while in Nazi Germany, a particularly vicious SS officer decides to make him choose among a group of Jews he is protecting as retribution for a dead German soldier. Cynically, with the rationalizing bloodlust characteristic of these guys, he tells Merrin: "There's a bad person in every neighborhood. Choose the man who beats his wife, steals...." The result of this horrific incident crushes Merrin and he emerges a broken man, not only doubting God's existence but man's basic nature.
The rest of the movie is a slow, intense, and piercing meditation on maintaining the will to good even in the face of humanity's sometimes monstrously destructive instincts. Through a realistically long trial in Africa, where he witnesses the brutal colonalism of the British to the natives and an outbreak of heinous aggression not dissimilar to what he witnessed at the beginning of the film, his faith is almost completely destroyed but ultimately regained by a confrontation with a spirit inhabiting the village's cripple, Cheche.
Schrader does a beautiful job with Skarskgard's character. Merrin has his credentials checked quite fully as a representative of God. It is a perfect setup for the events of the original film. Underappreciated.
Dominon - buy it! Dominion is the better prequel to the Exorcist story line. There is no bad language. I am tired of viewing films that have profanity occupying 10% or more of the total movie dialogue. The screen writers spared us the "potty mouth" on this film.
The movie also does a decent job of depicting the reality of spiritually dark, demonic forces and their harmful effects on human beings. I watched it over and over again. It gives a great portrayal of how Father Merrin becomes "The Exorcist."
Worthy of the name, 'Exorcist' This version (Dominion) is by far the more superior of the two releases (i.e. 'The Beginning' being the first release by a different director). It didn't have me squirming like I and III did, but that wasn't the intent. I thought it was a good story about how evil slowly works its way into unreasonable situations and transforms them into something undeniable.
Budding film makers should see both 'Dominion' and 'The Begining', for a great example of what a quality director can do with the same actors and story.
Lame I bought this film the same day I bought the Renny Harlin version. Sadly enough the Renny Harlin version was better. The Harlin version was more of a horror/violence/action film, when this version was more of a Lifetime Movie of the week. Neither film is a masterpiece, but avoid this one.
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