Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

Years before Father Lankester 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 (story)

Stars:

Stellan Skarsgård, Izabella Scorupco, James D'Arcy

6 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:

lucifer morningstar character | supernatural horror | psychotronic film | cgi animal in live action title | church | 

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Taglines:

A Renny Harlin movie. The director of Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea and Die Hard 2

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Warner Bros. pushed Paul Schrader into adding more gore than he really wanted to. Matters came to a head after Schrader turned in his first edit. The studio promptly fired him, as they thought the finished product was too slow, too talky and still not gory enough for their liking.

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Goofs

Right in the beginning theres a establishing shot subtitled Cairo. In the background you can see the pyramids of Gizeh looming over the city. These pyramids are only about 80 meters high and more than 15 kilometers from Cairo. There's no way to see them anywhere from Cairo at all.

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Quotes

Father Francis: You asked the question, now you listen to the answer!

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Sengenya
composed by David Bradnum
Provided by Associated Production Music LLC

User Reviews

The Beginning over Dominion? Definitely

First, let me say that I didn't know Dominion existed until I discovered it going through the program guide. I started watching and man was I confused! I though that there was ANOTHER prequel that I didn't know about, until I continued to watch. Dominion seemed to me like a movie made out of pieces of film on the floor of the editing room. Clara Bellar's acting was awful in my opinion. I was completely distracted by her performance as well as several others.

While not a true horror movie, I really enjoyed The Beginning. I've watched it many times and found it very suspenseful. It kept my attention. I enjoyed the actors and the story. I've watched it over ten times and the scenes where Father M had to choose those to die? Chilling. Who wouldn't lose faith? The boy being torn apart? There were some good scenes.

Peace

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [Brazil] Warner Bros. [Spain]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 August 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Exorcist IV

Filming Locations:

Casablanca, Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

$80,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,054,001, 22 August 2004

Gross USA:

$41,821,986

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$78,110,021

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morgan Creek Entertainment, Dominion Productions, Post Amazers

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min 125 min (Unrated Version)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1