In 1947, having abandoned his faith, Father Merrin joins an archaeological excavation in Kenya, where an ancient church has been unearthed and something much older waits to be awoken.In 1947, having abandoned his faith, Father Merrin joins an archaeological excavation in Kenya, where an ancient church has been unearthed and something much older waits to be awoken.In 1947, having abandoned his faith, Father Merrin joins an archaeological excavation in Kenya, where an ancient church has been unearthed and something much older waits to be awoken.
- Awards
- 6 nominations total
Israel Oyelumade
- Jomo
- (as Israel Aduramo)
Lydia Darly
- Sebituana's Wife
- (as Lidia Darly)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMorgan Creek Productions fired Paul Schrader after he had submitted a completed movie, saying that he had given them "footage without any of the bloody violence the backers had wanted". He had already made it clear in interviews that he was making more of a psychological drama than an all-out gore-fest. He was fired and Renny Harlin was hired to re-shoot the movie. Almost 90% of the movie was re-shot, re-casting several roles and adding and removing characters. Following the lackluster reception to Harlin's version, though, Schrader's version was finally released as Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005).
- Goofs(at around 1h 19 mins) Father Gionetti gives Father Merrin a copy of the Rituale Romanum (Roman Ritual). (The administration of exorcism is in Title X of the Rituale Romanum.) The title of the book embossed on its leather cover is "Roman Ritual", in English. Later in the film (at around 1h 35 mins), Father Merrin asks Joseph to help him by reading passages of the book, and we are shown a couple of printed pages, the text of which is also in English. The Rituale Romanum would have been printed in Latin in 1949, when the film is set, because vulgar translations of liturgical texts were not authorized until the promulgation of the Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy) by Pope Paul VI on 4 December 1963, as part of the Second Vatican Council.
- ConnectionsEdited into Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)
Featured review
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.
- BaronBl00d
- Sep 4, 2005
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Exorcist IV: The Beginning
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $80,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $41,821,986
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $18,054,001
- Aug 22, 2004
- Gross worldwide
- $78,110,021
- Runtime1 hour 54 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
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