MovieChat Forums > Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005) Discussion > Problem with this Boring Thing

Problem with this Boring Thing

posted 14 years ago by cpbockman-1
2 replies | jump to latest

In the first Exorcist film, it's mentioned that it took Merrin a month or more to perform his first exorcism in Africa! Wow, I didn't know a month was actually 10 minutes! People have every right to watch this film with the expectation that it will mostly have to do with someone being possessed and being exorcised, not a religious battle between Native Africans and the British!

Watch Exorcist 3 instead if you want a better sequel - now there's a highly underrated gem!

[–] bastasch8647 14 years ago

Trouble is, how can a filmmaker extend a month-or-longer exorcism through a 2-hour movie? I agree with you that the exorcism was supposed to last longer, if staying faithful to the novel. But how can suspense, shock and horror be maintained over such a long period of time? The Exorcist worked because the priests had only a limited amount of time to save Regan's mind and her life. I can only imagine the terrible difficulties had Blatty's screenplay demanded a longer time than depicted in the film.

Also, you say Dominion is boring, but imagine how much more boring it would be if it portrayed a much longer period of time.

[–] cpbockman-1 14 years ago

"Also, you say Dominion is boring, but imagine how much more boring it would be if it portrayed a much longer period of time."

So Schindler's List was 3.5 hours long and portrayed over a much longer period of time. And guess what, not ONE second of it was boring!

As for possession lasting longer, this was centered around the first film. Even in Exorcist 3 possession remains throughout the movie. Dominion still took place over a fairly long time period if I'm not mistaken (not like I'll watch it again to find out), they just chose to put the possession aspect toward the end. As for my point, it doesn't matter how long we focus on one being possessed, or put simpler, how much of the film it takes up. What matters is the writer's and director's ability to keep us entertained with interesting details and happenings. For all I care, the whole film could have taken place in one room, focusing entirely on possession, and could have still been better than this film. All that really matters is keeping the viewer's interest.