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Am I the only one who actually though this film was good?

posted 16 years ago by davies_chloe
42 replies | jump to latest

I thing this film is much better than the boring, not creepy Dominion! I found this one nearly as frightening as the original Exorcist... Okay, not as scary, but closer than the Heretic, or Dominion! Especially when Sarah was possessed, and she was going upside down to stop Joseph from leaving the Church. I'm reading that people on here are saying this movie isn't frightening and boring, and the director was a lousy one etc. The only thing that they made a mistake with is when the dig, and that Pauzuzu was in Africa, but in the original Exorcist, it was found in Iraq. That's what they made a mistake with! Other than that, I though this movie was pretty darn good!

[–] bastasch8647 16 years ago

First: No, they did not make a mistake with the dig. The dig Merrin was involved in that was conducted in Iraq was his second encounter with the demon. The African dig, which happened some 30 years earlier, was his first encounter with the demon, and The Beginning is a "flashback" to that first exorcism.

Second: the demon in The Exorcist is symbolized by the Pazuzu statue, Pazuzu being an ancient Iranian god. The Beginning makes the mistake of replicating an exact image of this Iranian statue in Africa. Dominion, on the other hand, is more accurate: its demon-statue is a clearly AFRICAN portrayal and doesn't resemble the Iranian sculpture. This is only one example of why Dominion is the superior film to The Beginning: it is far more accurate and respectful of the original Exorcist and of Blatty's concepts.

Third: Dominion is the better film because it delves intellectually into the origins of evil. The Beginning is screwy from the get-go with its great mission and secret being "the place where Satan fell to earth," an embarrassingly fundamentalistic perspective - as if the "fall" of a nonmaterial spirit-entity could be geographically pinpointed. Instead of a literal reading of the legend of Satan's Fall, Dominion goes back to authentic Exorcist-type plotting: a demonic influence makes itself manifest through possession, without schlock references to past mass/multiple possessions that caused wars and made entire villages vanish.

Fourth: Dominion correctly dates the Byzantine church to the late antiquity or the early Middle Ages. It's historically accurate and well-researched. The Beginning, on the other hand, completely wrecks the timeline, with poor ignorant Merrin saying that the church dates to "5 BC" - which means the church was not only built before Christianity, but even before the birth of Christ! Such shameless stupidity only proves the shallowness and cheapness of The Beginning when compared to Dominion.

[–] davies_chloe 16 years ago

Oh, right I now see the truth! Thank you for solving all that for me. Now I know that Dominion was actually the right one, and was more involved with the original Exorcist movie. The Beginning actually made a lot of mistakes then I see. I will re-watch Dominion, and really see what it's about. But the bit I don't get is, when Cheche get's possessed, he actually looks like Satan himself, because all his hair was gone, and looked exactly like the painting of Satan on the church wall. Was he possessed by Satan himself in this film? And he sounded like half woman, and a tiny bit like a man. He also said "I am perfection", which to me sounds like something The Devil would actually say. I am probably wrong though.

[–] bastasch8647 16 years ago

Yeah, Dominion exchanged Pazuzu for Satan, although there is a small "African version" of Pazuzu in the buried church. I think you're right that Satan's pride would make him think of himself as "perfect." They probably gave him a manly/womanlt voice to show that he was an evil version both male and female - Gibson's Satan in "Passion of the Christ" also was androgynous, as was Blatty's in Legion (he used Colleen Dewhurst's voice).

Probably Satan's demons work just like Satan, so the fact that Dominion has Satan instead of the demon Pazuzu might be too significant. But I suppose that Merrin would have learned the same lesson in either case, judging by what he says in The Exorcist, e.g., "He is a liar, the demon is a liar, he will mix lies with the truth in order to confuse us... There is only one", etc. There's Satan, then there's Pazuzu and other demons who presumably emulate their Master's behavior...

[–] davies_chloe 16 years ago

Yes, I was thinking that he was actually Satan himself, and they used Satan to give Dominion a more frightening aspect than The Beginning.

But in The Exorcist, when Father Merrin said that "the demon is a liar" etc, I thought he was on about Satan himself, but then I also remembered that he said the DEMON is a liar. I thought there is only one person in evil - and that is The Devil. Plus Father Merrin said "there is only one". I was thinking that was meaning Satan...

Good films though. The people who do the Devil/Demon's voices etc, are very good at doing them. I wonder if the get scared of their own voices.

[–] bastasch8647 16 years ago

That's an ambiguity that's always puzzled me: when Merrin says "There is only one," does he mean that there is only one demon - Pazuzu - involved in Regan's possession? That seems to be the interpretation because he's responding to Karras' suggestion that there are several personalities involved. Blatty's novel has the demon say that it's just one small member of a huge group. However, the demon, being a liar, can't be taken literally at all points. So maybe it was really Satan that was the culprit rather than Pazuzu. The only objection to this might be that in the New Testament, Jesus and the disciples never cast Satan out of people - they only cast out demons. So the notion that Regan is possessed by a demon, not Satan, is the more "biblical" interpretation.

[–] poofta1970 16 years ago

In "Legion" Blatty postulates that everything in this universe, good and evil are parts of one being in the process of evolution towards being more like God.

So when Merrin says "There is only one" he may be saying that Regan is possessed by the evolving spirit of the universe which will come together as an equal to God at the end of time.

Merrin was based on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin who promoted this idea much to the frustration of the Catholic Church at the time.

[–] indioblack117 9 years ago

"poor ignorant Merrin" does not say "that the church dates to "5 BC""; he says it dates to around 5 AD. He then goes on to explain that the Byzantine architecture is unusual in this area of Africa, because there is no record of the Romans having got this far by that time period. So it actually does make sense.

I find your comment about "cheapness" rather astonishing.
Compared to DOMINION, BEGINNING looks like a really expensive movie, and it's all up there on the screen. Apart from that dreadful still photograph of Rome that introduces the final sequence, and which has a CGI bird flapping across it; as if that would fool us into thinking it's a moving picture.

I watched both films back-to-back last night. I saw DOMINION first, and it seemed like a big budget movie; lots of extras, impressive location shooting, extensive sets. Then I watched BEGINNING, and wow, by comparison, that looked enormously expensive.
I think the difference is that Schrader had the budget, but didn't really take advantage of it with his mainly static camera, and long takes; whereas Harlin came up with some impressive camera moves, lots of detailed cuts, and more of an energy to the story.

What I don't understand is how reading a few words from a book can dispel demons.
Perhaps Merrin should have done that back in World War II

[–] Agnelin 16 years ago

I like both Dominion and The Beginning, and no, you aren't the only one who thought this was a good film. I thought both of them were pretty good -not great movies, but pretty good.

[–] DennisAlexis 16 years ago

No, I like this movie too! A lot! :)

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[–] porosus 16 years ago

I have not seen Dominion,I dont think that it is availible here in Australia, but I think that all of the Exorcist films are excellent with the exception of The Heretic.

[–] Kissman 16 years ago

Nope. I enjoy this movie as well. Personally, I am perplexed with why Dominion scores better than The Beginning. This film is scarier and much more interesting. Dominion puts me to sleep.

[–] unclecessna 15 years ago

If you either (A) like theological discussion
(B) want to lose two hours of your life that you won't ever get back
Then 'Dominion' is for you.

If you want to watch a fairly entertaining B-movie horror film that pays homage to 'The Exorcist' and won't change your life in any way then 'ETB' is something you might enjoy.

[–] iloveandrei 15 years ago

Just watched it and thought it was pretty good- way better than I was expecting from the low rating. must watch Dominion soon..

[–] derirre357 15 years ago

I prefer this one, Dominion was good up until the last half an hour or so, it went downhill from there.

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] a_torres23 15 years ago

There's nothing wrong with this film except for the scenes w/ the hyenas attacking that kid. The CGI wasn't pretty to watch but overall, this film was entertaining to watch. That's what Renny Harlin does for me as a movie watcher.....the film entertained me & thought it was worthy of a film in the series.

[–] nathanbrookesyeomans 15 years ago

Right now can't be bothered going into the merits and defects of Harlin's and Schrader's respective films, but to answer your initial question, no, you are not the only one who thought this film was good. I was expecting the worse as almost every 'critic' online has damningly lambasted this film for one reason or another (or several), but IMHO, the ending is more in tone with the original Exorcist. The sheer evil, the near unstoppable power of the demon/satan, and yes, a demonic possession than renders the person unrecognizable. The scene when Merrin sees Sarah's room, is genuinely creepy, and the scenes in the tomb are scary end of; and I've seen some truly disturbing stuff in my time. In summation, although not a great movie by any stretch, a good movie that had me hooked to the screen. I gave it a 7/10 and I think the 5.0 user rating is disgraceful.

[–] victorsuk 15 years ago

No, i liked this considerably. Saw it years ago, but missed a lot of the beggining, but remember liking it, but not knowing what the film was called.

When it came on the tv the other day, i never realized this was the film i saw years ago, but the title the exorcist made me think it was worth watching.
It was! And the bonus was i realized it was the film i had seen a while back.

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[–] ShellyM 14 years ago

Definitely would choose ETB over Dominion which was as slow as a wet week. ETB, however had some bite to it and set out what it intended to do - scare me!

[–] psdhart 14 years ago

I too like this film although I have not seen Dominion yet

[–] west3210 13 years ago

I like it too. It has flaws, some illogical and over the top moments that spoiled overall serious tone of story but plot is still interesting. Scary scenes mostly relied on cheap thrills and conventional scares but it worked well here. Stellan Skarsgard is solid as Father Merrin while the rest of cast was mediocre IMO. Visuals are the most impressive part for me. Beautiful African sceneries, cinematography, sets, it's an eye candy.

You go Glen Coco...

[–] psdhart 13 years ago

I agree it was good

[–] TDeMona 13 years ago

I liked it as well.