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.

Director:

Renny Harlin

Writers:

William Peter Blatty (movie The Exorcist), William Wisher Jr. (story),

Stars:

Stellan Skarsgård, Izabella Scorupco, James D'Arcy

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Father Merrin
Izabella Scorupco	...	Sarah
James D'Arcy	...	Father Francis
Remy Sweeney	...	Joseph
Julian Wadham	...	Major Granville
Andrew French	...	Chuma
Ralph Brown	...	Sergeant Major
Ben Cross	...	Semelier
David Bradley	...	Father Gionetti
Alan Ford	...	Jefferies
Antonie Kamerling	...	Lieutenant Kessel
Eddie Osei	...	Emekwi
Israel Oyelumade	...	Jomo (as Israel Aduramo)
Patrick O'Kane	...	Bession
James Bellamy	...	James

Storyline

Archeologist Lankester Merrin is asked to go to East Africa to excavate a church that has been found completely buried in sand. Merrin is also an ordained Roman Catholic priest who, still haunted by what he was forced to do during World War II in his native Holland, eschews any religion or belief. He's fascinated by what he finds and that it dates hundred of years before Christianity was introduced to the area. Accompanied by a young priest, Father Francis, to keep an eye on the religious elements of what they find, Merrin makes his way to the camp. There he meets a young doctor, Sarah and soon realizes there is an air of gloom that envelops the entire site. Workmen go mad and a young boy is mauled by a pack of hyenas while completely ignoring his younger brother Joseph. Inside the church itself they find signs of desecration. Merrin is forced to re-examine his lack of faith and come face to face with the devil.

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Plot Keywords:

church | faith | excavation | archeologist | kenya | 

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Taglines:

God is not here.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and gore, disturbing images and rituals, and for language including some sexual dialogue

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [br] Warner Bros. [es]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 August 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Exorcist IV: The Beginning

Filming Locations:

Casablanca, Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$976,952 (France) (19 November 2004)

Gross:

$2,689,909 (Brazil) (10 December 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morgan Creek Productions, Dominion Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Linda Blair was "shocked" when she discovered that Warner Bros. had used her image/voice in the promotional campaign(s), unauthorized.

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Goofs

When Father Francis takes Joseph into the church, he says "In nomine patris, et filii, et spiritus sanctu". The actual Latin is "In nomine patris, et filii, et spiritus sancti" - "In the name of the father, the son, and the holy ghost".

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Quotes

Father Francis: This is the spot where Lucifer fell.

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Connections

Featured in Hagan Reviews: Exorcist: The Beginning (2012)

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Soundtracks

"Call to Prayers"
Composed by Robert J. Walsh
Courtesy of FirstCom Music

User Reviews

Before Regan and Merrin Met

Director Renny Harlin creates an intriguing, interesting prequel to the events shown in The Exorcist and its two sequels. This film follows Father Merrin to East Africa, initially having given up his priesthood, where his expertise has been called upon to explain some ancient temple that had been unearthed from the sand and dirt at a major archaeological dig site. The temple is in pristine shape and has some major anti-Church motifs abounding. Merrin soon realizes a demon exists and...well, you get the general picture. This film worked for me for a number of reasons: it is story driven as well as effects driven, it has solid acting, great location shots, and a strangely, highly flawed script that does create interest. The last half of the film begins to bog down under the weight of some of the makeup and special effects, but never to the point of overtaking the film and its atmosphere. And atmosphere is one thing this film has plenty of. I especially liked the way the character of Father Merrin was treated. He is a flawed man with an interesting past that the film delves into through flashbacks. These flashback scenes are effectively done and help make Merrin all the more real. The acting of Stellan Skarsgard in the role is the film's principal strength along with some innovative camera-work. Sure, much of the script is hokey hooey and will not make terribly much sense - I'm still not sure what happened in the end, but the film works nonetheless for the aforementioned reasons. I was pleasantly surprised despite some pre-conceived ideas going into the film.