Dominion (2005)

Years before Father Lankester Merrin helped save Regan MacNeil's soul, he first encounters the demon Pazuzu in East Africa. Merrin's initial battle with Pazuzu leads to the rediscovery of his faith.

Director:

Paul Schrader

Writers:

William Wisher, Caleb Carr

Stars:

Stellan Skarsgård, Gabriel Mann, Clara Bellar

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Father Lankester Merrin
Gabriel Mann	...	Father Francis
Clara Bellar	...	Rachel Lesno
Billy Crawford	...	Cheche
Ralph Brown	...	Sergeant Major
Israel Oyelumade	...	Jomo (as Israel Aduramo)
Andrew French	...	Chuma
Antonie Kamerling	...	Kessel
Julian Wadham	...	Major Granville
Eddie Osei	...	Emekwi
Ilario Bisi-Pedro	...	Sebituana
Niall Refoy	...	Corporal (Thief)
Lorenzo Camporese	...	Private (Thief)
Burt Caesar	...	Dr. Lamu
Marcello Santoni	...	Dutch Farmer

Storyline

Lankester Merrin is a archaeologist by profession but an ordained Roman Catholic priest who has lost his faith and abandoned his vocation. He is haunted by what he was forced to do in his native Holland during World War II. The church he's excavated in Northern Kenyan dates to the Byzantine period but this puts its construction hundreds of years before Christianity was introduced to the area. the church was buried to the rooftop in sand and as its structure is exposed, a madness slowly descends on the camp. the local tribesmen are prepared to go to war and demand that the church be buried. Soon, two British soldiers are found dead and their commanding officer, Major Granville, shoots a innocent civilian in cold blood. As fear descends upon everyone in the camp, it becomes apparent that a young disabled boy, Cheche, is possessed by the devil forcing Merrin to re-examine his own beliefs.

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Plot Keywords:

year 1947 | year 1944 | 1940s | supernatural horror | cgi animal in live action title | 

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Taglines:

Before the Legend You Know, is the Story of How Evil Began.

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and disturbing images

Did You Know?

Trivia

Paul Schrader was given no money for publicity or music production after Morgan Creek decided to release his version. He was also only given $35,000 for visual effects and post-production (which explains the shoddy computer graphics and inconsistent audio quality). Additionally, Morgan Creek chose the release date of May 20th, the weekend Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) came out.

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Goofs

In the nighttime village scene where the native woman is giving birth. The hut is lit from the left by an pure white light source, so strong that it shines through the gaps in the straw structure. There are plenty of campfires to light the scene, and certainly no place for a pure white light source that strong in this location.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Kessel: I am Obersturmfuhrer Ralph Kessel from the S.S., and this is one of my men. We found him in a ditch with a kitchen knife in his back, murdered by one of you. You see the German army retreating, and it makes you feel hope. It should not. So, who is responsible for this?

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Crazy Credits

At the extreme end of the end credits, after the last production company logo has faded out and the screen is entirely black, a demon voice grumbles "I am perfection".

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Connections

Featured in Hagan Reviews: Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2012)

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Soundtracks

Back to Me
Performed by Devon Loizeaux
Lyrics by Devon Loizeaux

User Reviews

This film sticks with me

I saw Dominion about three weeks ago and I'm still thinking about it. It's not the greatest movie ever made but it still was quite good despite its flaws (such as the lousy special effects).

Does Satan influence humans to do evil? Yes, at least in the movie he does. He plays on anger and fear. He posses the young deformed native man but in a way he possess everyone and uses their anger, fear, and guilt against them. This is what made the film intriguing.

I also loved the idea of the church being built over a pagan site to keep the evil at bay. Churches have been built over pagan sites maybe not for that reason but that made the film quite interesting as well.

As Roger Ebert put it the "film takes evil seriously." You don't get that too often in horror films and in most American films. The film is not a jump at and scare you thriller it's scary in an intellectual way and that does not happen too often in films.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Italy Morocco

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 August 2005 (UK)

Also Known As:

Exorcist: The Original Prequel

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$140,703, 22 May 2005

Gross USA:

$251,495

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$251,495

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morgan Creek Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1