Check Out the Trailer

The history of this film will become legend. Director Paul Schrader (AUTO FOCUS) was asked to do a prequel to THE EXORCIST. When he turned in his moody dramatic piece the studio decided they wanted something more commercial and hired a new director to virtually redo the entire film with more conventional scares. That movie was EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING and it stank. After it bombed in the theaters, the studio decided to release Schrader’s version to help recoup the costs of making two films.

The core idea of the films is relatively the same, but they couldn’t be anymore different. Schrader’s film is more of a dramatic ode to spiritual doubt and the presence of evil in the world than a scare-fest. Father Lankester Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard, GOOD WILL HUNTING) goes on sabbatical from the Catholic Church after an incident during World War II emotionally scars him. He is involved in an archeological dig in Africa where they find a church buried in the sand.

The Vatican sends another priest named Father Francis (Gabriel Mann, THE BOURNE IDENTITY) to help. The church seems to have been brand new when it has covered in sand and it looks like it was built to hold back something evil. Soon the British military gets involved and they do not work well with the natives.

Through the course of the film Father Merrin fights his demons that he has tried to bury. Aiding him is the kind Jewish doctor Rachel Lesno (Clara Bellar, A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE). Together the two care for a crippled boy named Cheche (Billy Crawford), who the villagers believe is cursed. The film shows how simple conflict between men can create evil as easily as supernatural forces.

Skarsgard is solid as the tormented Father Merrin, much more so than in EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING where he seemed bored. Mann’s role is far expanded in this version and serves as a key player. The visual effects are rough because not much was spent on them. However, this is a film that we were not ever going to see, so the cheap effects will have to do. They don’t ruin the film because they aren’t core to the story. This film is a drama about a soul in turmoil; it doesn’t need flashy razzle-dazzle to tell its solid story.