Dominion Is a lot better than The beggining. i dont see how it was commercially unmrketable.the begginig was more of a cheesy remake of the original. and for once the possesed is a male rather than a female.
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True... but you know "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" is also a very good movie also since it's based on a true story, the possessed did need to be a girl...
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hehe, "requiem" is based on the true story. i couldnt believe my eyes when i watched "exorcism of emily rose" afterwards and saw what the made of the material.
shareIt tried to, but bowed to studio demands, HOWEVER, it did a VERY admirable job in my opinion. It was a solid movie, with solid acting, story, and I honestly thought that the combination of themes worked very well.
shareThe "true story" of the exorcist wasn't even a possessed girl.. it was a young boy. The original story comes from a child who was held and eventually died at St Louis University, in St. Louis, Mo. It was in one of their old buildings there. When you go up to the top floor where it happened, everything it totally sealed and boarded. However, knowing several people there and pulling typical college hijinks, we were able to break in and take a look around. CREEPY isn't even a close representation of what it was like walking through those halls. It looked like everyone left for work on a Friday and never returned. Everything was still there. Papers, files, desks, cabinets, PENS AND PENCILS, lamps, and any and everything you're likely to find in an office. Now, the room where the boy was, the door was graffiti painted of course and sealed shut. There was no way into the room without notifying the whole world to our presence, but in all honesty, I didn't want to go in that room. The whole place was eerie. Cool experience though.
shareDid you happen to have a camera with you? Those would be some kick ass pictures!
My mind called me but I forgot to pick up. http://www.myspace.com/darkalessa
Are you watching the same movie I did?
shareDuring my reading to try to make sense of this mess with two films I have seen the opinion several times now that Dominion is better than The beginning. I can't for my life understand that someone thinks that. In some of these cases people seem to claim that Dominion is somehow more profound or a more well told story. I have as advanced and picky taste in films as anyone but I feel that Dominion was just painfully empty of anything and amateurishly filmed beyond belief. The settings looks like they have filmed a high school stage performance and the hyenas are actually even worse made in it...
The beginning is still a typical Hollywood movie of course but it gets the job done, it IS a horror movie. And that is something which most "horror" movies aren't and certainly not Dominion. And, believe it or not, as opposed to Dominion it actually makes the Nazi-related subjects come somewhat alive. It made me feel something because of the past of the female main character.
I didn't feel confused and puzzled after watching it The beginning but I did after Dominion, when I just shook my head in disbelief over how it could have ever been released...
exorcist is about faith, not horror.this is as much true for dominion as it is for the original. (the third part too, actually). its a subtle, quiet and intelligent movie. i agree, that it doesnt look that well.
i enjoy "the beginning" too, actually, up until the end, when the woman turns to satan i have to turn the movie off. the whole ending is so stupid it makes me want to scream out loud.
"the beginning" has a few strong scenes: the start with the destroyed army and the single priest, scared for his life, the nazi backflashs arent that bad. and there are other things thrown in as shock effects: the former archaeologist killing himself in the asylum, the black kid eaten by the hyenas ...
but ... you cant connect those scenes, they dont form any story, it doesnt make any sense.
and dont get me started on the ending ... again ... hehe
This is beyond pathethic.
The acting, for instance, was laughable. Say otherwise, and you don't knw anything about films at all.
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> The acting, for instance, was laughable. Say otherwise, and you don't knw anything about films at all.
YOU don't know anything about films at all, do you? Stellan Skarsgård and Clara Bellar are excellent actors and doing very good job in this. It is even amazing Skarsgård captured exactly what this film really is through his physical moving pattern, in the way he walks.
It's so good, and since the ending for something like this can only be very cheesy, Schrader exploited he way Skarsgård walks in a hilarious way to make an incredible joke. And if you don't get what I mean by the ending, you really don't know anything about cinema.
... it's a parody of The Searchers. Sorry in case you didn't get at all what this film really is. It's not really a horror, but a metaphysical western. So sorry if you didn't get scared and therefore unsatisfied, but you would be very ignorant about movies if you think Paul Schrader, of all people would go for such cheesy exploitation of scaring you with gory stuffs.
Even with the two of the most "gory" moments of the film, Schrader makes subversive jokes about Christian iconographies, recreating these "holly images" and exposing how cruel and awful they actually look like. Making Gabrel Mann mimicking Saint Sebastian was particularly hilarious.
Oh, please, conductorman, this movie was a joke and a laugh riot...oh, wait. Did you like The Beginning too??? Horror is horror...not a western. Sorry if you got confused but listening to a director's commentary about Searchers references does not a film make, or did you forget. And Schrader tried to make some metaphysical but it is all sound and fury signifying very little...like the CGI cow.
Pseudo-Film Critic (Jerry at the Movies) is the biggest waste of Internet space in history
Dominion is excellent compared to the crappy (and make up heavy) BEGINNING.
i laughed at the woman exorcism in THE BEGINNING, too much makeup.
Hear, hear.
shareDominion is much better in terms of acting, pacing, and script. The Beginning was half-popped popcorn
shareBoth movies in my opinion are unwatchable. At least Exorcist The Beginning had me amused on how absurd it was. That final fight scene must've been written by a 2nd grader.
I was really excited about Dominion. I wanted to like it. It felt like a bad TV movie. The only redeeming quality with Dominion was that they were at least trying to make a legitimate picture. Paul Schrader is a fine screenwriter and Stellen Skarsgard is a respectable actor. If only Warner would treat The Exorcist with some class.
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Why is it irrational to think they are both unwatchable? I never said I hated them. Personally I don't think either should have been made. Warner is just a huge cash-cow milking The Exorcist for all it's worth.
I said I appreciated that Dominion was at least trying to make a legitimate picture. Paul Schrader is one of the best screenwriters of the past 30 years. I'm not going to give this film a pass on it's intentions and Schrader's reputation.
Most of the acting was sketchy apart from Skarsgard, whom I felt was one of the only bright spots of the film. As I mentioned before, I have a lot of respect for Schrader as a writer, his directing is another thing. It felt like a late 80's made for TV movie.
I truly was looking forward to Dominion. I even signed some online petition to Warner to get the film released.
As for 'The Beginning'. The movie was laughable and absurd, purely made for a quick opening weekend buck before the public found out how awful the film really was. I saw this movie for free in the theaters and still felt I should have been reimbursed.
So if I absolutely have to pick which is the better of the two, I'd have to go with Dominion. So on a scale on how unwatchable these two movies are, Dominion would be a 5 and Beginning would be a 8 (Norbit being a 10). ]
(I'm typing this as The Omen remake is on tv... I'm slowly starting to lighten up to Dominion.)
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NO *beep* sherlock. The beginning sucked.
And it was a girl in the book to begin with. But in the supposed real documented case, it was a boy.
I got THE BEGINNING back in 2005, and just yesterday I was able to find and buy a copy of DOMINION. I'm curious to check it out, though I've been turned off by this one because I heard it's nearly the same movie with some of the same footage. But then again Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut was better than the theatrical version.
For DEMONIC TOYS and updates on Full Moon Films:
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I think Dominion was better than The Beginning because it better expressed William Peter Blatty's type of metaphysics. Beginning was a fast-paced but shallow horror film. Dominion was a slow-paced theological search. The question is, was Dominion *supposed* to be a horror film? In fact, was The Exorcist really a horror film, or a religious film that used horror-genre trappings? Should we judge every film in the franchise by how it meets the standards of the horror genre?
Dominion fully addresses Merrin's sin of pride which was a main theme in Blatty's original novel, that was mostly ignored by The Beginning. Dominion's young priest explicitly castigates Merrin for his spiritual pride. The Clara Bellar character, after explaining her concentration camp experience to Merrin, tells him, "Sometimes I think that the best view of God is from hell" - a rather surprising and "Blattyesque" idea, and one that fits Dominion perfectly. Che Che's transformation from deformity to preternatural beauty is a completely fitting symbolization of the demon's Luciferian identity as a (fallen) "angel of light/Perfection"... Etc.
Perhaps the sharp difference between the two films is best exemplified in the DVD cover art. The Beginning's cover depicts a screaming demonic image, whereas Dominion's cover depicts Merrin in silhouette, kissing a rosary's crucifix. Obviously, The Beginning is meant to appeal to horror fans, whereas Dominion is meant to appeal to those who appreciate issues and character development over horror.
Took the words right out of my mouth, sir.
Cheers,
AZ
I agree, accept for the Lucifer part, the demon was suposed to be a Sumerian god not a fallen angel.
Also Lucifer has nothing to do with fallen angels or the Devil, that verse in the Vulgate translation of the bible where Lucifer is mentioned is a reference to the planet Venus, the morning star. And that Verse is actually directed to the king of Tyre.
I prefered Dominion over beginning too. especially the ending of Beginning was laughably terrible.
One thing I would of liked to see in both movies tough, would have been more explanation on Pazuzu, more history of this Sumerian God, and why exactly he chooses to posses people when he is a god.
Yes I agree
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