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Exorcist: The Beginning
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Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) More at IMDbPro »

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Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) -- Years before Father Lancaster Merrin helped save Regan MacNeil's soul, he first encounters the demon Pazuzu in East Africa. This is the tale of Father Merrin's initial battle with Pazuzu and the rediscovery of his faith.

Overview

User Rating:
5.0/10   14,122 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Renny Harlin
Writers (WGA):
William Peter Blatty (movie The Exorcist)
William Wisher Jr. (story) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Exorcist: The Beginning on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
20 August 2004 (USA) more
Genre:
Horror | Thriller more
Tagline:
A new chapter of evil more
Plot:
Years before Father Lancaster Merrin helped save Regan MacNeil's soul, he first encounters the demon Pazuzu in East Africa. This is the tale of Father Merrin's initial battle with Pazuzu and the rediscovery of his faith. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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Awards:
3 nominations more
User Comments:
Horror movie, but nothing more more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Exorcist IV: The Beginning (USA) (working title)
Exorcist Prequel (USA) (working title)
Exorcist: Dominion (USA) (working title)
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MPAA:
Rated R for strong violence and gore, disturbing images and rituals, and for language including some sexual dialogue.
Runtime:
114 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color
Aspect Ratio:
2.00 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS
Filming Locations:
Casablanca, Morocco more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Roughly 10 percent of Paul Schrader's scenes made it into the final film, including two minutes of the Holland village massacre. Schrader's version of the sequence is at about 20 minutes long. more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Merrin looks at Bession's drawing as he is walking into the church, he has it the right way up (with the cross inverted). A few moments later he looks at the hanging cross and realizes he's made a mistake in interpreting the drawing. He looks at the drawing again (now upside down, with the cross the right way up) and turns it around, giving him his epiphany about the hidden passage. more
Quotes:
Father Francis: This is the spot where Lucifer fell. more
Movie Connections:
Edited into Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005) more
Soundtrack:
Sharetny Oyounha more

FAQ

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17 out of 22 people found the following comment useful:-
Horror movie, but nothing more, 1 June 2006
6/10
Author: sheenafilm from Hamburg, Germany

I watched Schrader's "Dominion" in the morning and Harlin's "Beginning" in the afternoon, hoping that watching them back to back would make a comparison easier than for most people who waited a year until the deleted version by Schrader was finally released. Renny Harlin used only a few minutes from the already existing footage, so "Beginning" really became a new movie. But unfortunately, the whole effort of re-shooting didn't make the movie better.

In Harlin's "remake", we get a smart young priest, straight from the Vatican (James D'Arcy) who has received all the information about the buried church in advance. In "Dominion", Gabriel Mann played an innocent priest who does not expect anything terrible, he just wants to start a school in the middle of Africa. The latter was the better screenplay idea in my opinion, because D'Arcy is such a cool "professional" that we don't really care about him, whereas Mann was a character the audience loves for his human feelings. Also there is more mystery in "Domionion" whereas "Beginning" once explained the whole background, and that was it - too easy.

"Beginning" has a lot more gory effects, swarms of ugly insects and its demon uses obscenities in same way Linda Blair did in the original "Exorcist" movie. This will probably entertain people who just want a horror movie and nothing else. Mind you, "Beginning" also has good photography, a few unforgettable moments like the battlefield at the beginning and good actors! But the release of the original version "Dominion" proved that the story has had more potential, Schrader worked more careful with the characters and their relationships and gave more food for thought. I voted 6/10 for "Beginning" and 8/10 for "Dominion".

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Byzantine Church? InfernoXV
HUGE inacuracy... timothymyer
Am I the only one who actually though this film was good? davies_chloe
Stellan Skarsgard Princess2005848
are this and dominion the same story, different versions? caelanefc
American or Dutch? emanuelevalenza
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