It’s an excellent month for an exorcism. From Oct. 21-31, I’m looking back at the five films of “The Exorcist” series as we celebrate Spooky Month here at Reviews from My Couch. Next up is the fourth film, “Exorcist: The Beginning” (2004):
Repurposed but respectable
After director Paul Schrader’s cut of an “Exorcist” prequel (known as “Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,” to be reviewed in tomorrow’s post) disappointed the studio, it called on director Renny Harlin (“Die Hard 2”) and writer Alexi Hawley to make use of the sets, some of the same actors and some of the same story beats from William Wisher and Caleb Carr’s screenplay.
The result is the slick, creepy, continuity-challenged, beat-hitting, overall respectable “Exorcist: The Beginning.”
It’s unfashionable to side with the studio, but I prefer this out of the two prequels. The (unnamed) demon Pazuzu is an absent but ever-present center to the proceedings at an archeological dig site in Kenya.
Then he reveals himself in an ending that riffs on the original “Exorcist” – with the classic makeup and voice – but this time the demon isn’t tied to a bed and instead creepy-comedically climbs the walls of a vast underground cavern.
Troubled Father Merrin (a game Stellan Skarsgard, taking over for Max von Sydow) travels to Kenya to investigate an ancient church that was buried immediately after it was built by ancient Christians, in order to trap Pazuzu’s power in the caverns below.
Skarsgard is joined by James D’Arcy as young Father Francis and Izabella Scorupco as nurse Sarah; both supporting characters have their own dark secrets.
Confusing continuity
“The Beginning” lines up OK with “The Exorcist” – including a riff on the classic image of Merrin staring down a Pazuzu statue – but not with “Exorcist II: The Heretic.” I suppose we can say that Merrin’s exorcism of a boy in “Exorcist II’s” flashbacks are a second encounter with Pazuzu, and then the exorcism of Regan in the original film is the third.
Hawley, in his only film credit (he’d go on to do lots of TV work), wrings a fair amount of mystery out of a story we know is going to end with Merrin facing someone possessed by Pazuzu. I especially like how the flashbacks to Merrin’s encounter with Nazis – the event that traumatized him so much that he left the church – get darker as Hawley gradually reveals the full picture.
Harlin effectively showcases the church and caverns by, ironically, hiding them in shadow. But he gives us occasional skin-crawling images. In particular, “The Beginning” gets a lot of mileage out of Jesus on the cross, hung upside-down, which is both a blasphemy of Christianity and a horror-flick creep-out.
Harlin and Hawley’s take on this material is more mainstream than Schrader’s attempt at daylight horror, but I think it’s more effective. Certainly, it’s a broad examination of a demon’s evil seeping into humans more so than a meditative or insightful one.
But “The Beginning” delivers what we want out of an “Exorcist” prequel: Skarsgard portrays Merrin’s backstory in a way the honors von Sydow’s character, the film has mood and atmosphere, and most importantly, Pazuzu is scary.
Schedule of “Exorcist” reviews:
Wednesday, Oct. 21: “The Exorcist” (1973)
Friday, Oct. 23: “Exorcist II: The Heretic” (1977)
Wednesday, Oct. 28: “The Exorcist III” (1990)
Friday, Oct. 30: “Exorcist: The Beginning” (2004)
Saturday, Oct. 31: “Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist” (2005)