MovieChat Forums > Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005) Discussion > I love Paul Schrader, but this movie was...

I love Paul Schrader, but this movie was a turd

posted 15 years ago by bsg_tns
3 replies | jump to latest

I've recently come to appreciate the talent that is Paul Schrader, and that's why I rented this movie. But what a huge dissapointment this was. The movie felt like a color by numbers with zero atmosphere and tension. The directing lacked any visual flare, and the anti-colonialism side story added nothing and was just a distraction. The story about Merrin's encounter with the demon should have been enough to fill an entire script with no room to spare. The fact that it wasn't shows you just how utterly uninterested the writer and director were in the main story. And that lack of interest comes through loud and clear in the movie. I was bored to tears. What a letdown from Paul Schrader.

Free Speech

[–] bastasch8647 15 years ago

"The story about Merrin's encounter with the demon should have been enough to fill an entire script with no room to spare"

Maybe, but how to handle the "exotic" time and place, i.e., post-war Africa, a fort-hospital, a marginalized native teen _without_ taking the necessary time to fill in a believable background?

The trouble is, the film's combination of low-key style and lengthy scenes bogs it down and deletes the "horror punch" any Exorcist franchise movie should deliver. The pacing should have been speeded up. And the horror should have been more obvious, frequent, and intense... of course, without losing the very nice themes of Merrin/Bellar/CheChe and the racial tension. Schrader just took his time too much and lost sight of the fact that he was supposed to be directing a horror film, and not just a horror film, but an _Exorcist_ film.

Still, I prefer Dominion over The Beginning because of the former's intellectual appeal, its theological complexity, and the subtlety of the performances and the scenarios. It almost plays like an art film while The Beginning plays like a hyped-up slasher flick.

[–] Tsavo 14 years ago

I didn't get the feeling from The Beginning, yes it was intense, and more brutal, but that was what I liked about it, the underlying sense of darkness and chaos that was worming it was to the surface, and manifesting itself with greater and greater intensity as the situation worsened. Now I wont say either film is better than the other, I LIKED The beginning more, I felt it made better choices with the mood and pacing of the film, the end result feeling more powerful and sinister, plus lets not forget that when merrin saw the statue of pazuzu in the original, there was a hint of dread in his demeanor, you could see it in his eyes. None of the events in Dominion really seemed more surreal, not quite the feeling hat would incite fear of any kind, however, it was a very interesting film, with some interesting ideas. Honestly, if both films could be taken and turned into one movie, both eliminating the others flaws, THAT would have been downright amazing.

[–] 14 years ago

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