FrightFest Movie Haiku - Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist

www.dominiontheexorcist.com


Dir: Paul Schrader


Cast: Stellan Skarsgard, Gabriel Mann, Clara Bellar, Billy Crawford


He loses his faith

battles with evil again

better than Harlin


Just what were the suits at Warners thinking when they scrapped Paul Schrader’s intelligent meditation on good and evil in favour of Renny Harlin’s shlock tactics which resulted in last year’s Exorcist: The Beginning? Thankfully FrightFest afforded us the opportunity to witness Schrader’s original vision as he intended it to be seen – but is it an improvement? The answer is a resounding yes, although that won’t come as much of a shock to anyone who sat through Harlin’s execrable version. The seeds of a decent story were there all along, and thankfully Schrader tackles the subject with greater care; starting with one of the few scenes which made it intact to Harlin’s remake, we see Father Merrin (the excellent Skarsgard) questioning his faith as ten random POWs are murdered in cold blood in front of his very eyes. The main difference with this film is that it’s a boy, Cheche (pop star Billy Crawford) who’s possessed this time around, and we get to see more involvement from the British soldiers. Out goes the tacky love interest (hurrah!), out goes Alan Ford’s woeful character (an even bigger hurrah!), and in comes Ralph Brown – third billed (I think) on Harlin’s film, yet I dare you to spot him in more than one single scene of that film! Merrin’s battle with his faith has far greater resonance here, but it’s worth mentioning that we’d always been led to believe that this encounter with ultimate evil nearly killed him; if that’s the case then the final conflict is sadly disappointing and far less epic that you’d anticipate – either that or Merrin’s just been boasting to his mates and bigging himself up. It’s not without flaws – the make up veers right across the scale (with Cheche’s bulging skull covering his hairline a glaring sight) and some of the CGI looks unfinished, if barely started at all! So, Schrader’s Dominion is a curate’s egg, perhaps for Exorcist enthusiasts only, but it’s still a better film than Harlin’s theatrical release.

soulmining rating: ***