Exorcist: The Beginning

2004

Action / Horror / Mystery / Thriller

56
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 11% · 133 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 27% · 50K ratings
IMDb Rating 5.1/10 10 39661 39.7K

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Plot summary

Years before Father Merrin helped save Regan MacNeil’s soul, he first encounters the demon Pazuzu in East Africa.


Uploaded by: OTTO
October 27, 2014 at 05:51 AM

Director

Top cast

David Bradley as Father Gionetti
Stellan Skarsgård as Father Merrin
James D'Arcy as Father Francis
1080p.BLU
1.65 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
R
23.976 fps
1 hr 54 min
Seeds 11

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by The_Void 6 / 10

Not the piece of trash that I was expecting

There's no denying that this Exorcist prequel is surplus to requirements in terms of movies that needed to be made; but in spite of that, it's actually not bad at all. The film was never going to be received well, due to the fact that it's a prequel to one of the greatest horror movies ever made, and of course the whole Paul Schrader fiasco; but I'm happy to report that The Exorcist: The Beginning has risen from amidst the chaos and turned out to be a very decent horror movie. The action takes place before the events of the classic 70's movie, but it still follows the same character - Father Merrin, who was played by the great Max Von Sydow in the original, and is brought to life by Stellan Skarsgård in this movie. We follow him as he joins a British expedition in Kenya after an ancient church that has been buried underground for hundreds of years has been uncovered. You know what's coming, and this discovery is a springboard for all kinds of evil to be inflicted on the surrounding village.

The film really falls down on the character side, as we never really get to know any of them and with the possible slight exception of the lead; not a single one has any depth. That's unimportant, however, as this film's main focus is definitely the atmosphere; and it's suitably malevolent throughout, which does the film no end of favours. The action is very slow, especially for the first hour, but it hardly matters as watching the plot bathe in the atmosphere is always entertaining enough, and while it is slow you can always count on something to happen that will get the excitement levels back up. The film features several shocking and disturbing sequences, my personal favourite being the hyena attack; with the stillborn birth coming a close second. The CGI in the film leaves a lot to be desired, especially on the aforementioned hyena attack, but the effects aren't too much of an important element anyway. When the film boils down to it's ending is when it really lets rip, and the final fifteen minutes or so deliver some really great horror. While this film doesn't even nearly touch the original; it's much better than you would think considering all the turmoil surrounding the release and on the whole I give it a thumbs up!

Reviewed by SnoopyStyle 5 / 10

Not scary enough and way too slow

In 1949, the British army has stumbled onto a buried Byzantium church in Kenya. The church's date is too early and shouldn't exist. Merrin (Stellan Skarsgård) is a former priest who suffered a traumatic war experience. He's called in to help with the archaeological dig. Father Francis (James D'Arcy) is sent in by the Vatican, and Sarah (Izabella Scorupco) is also trying to escape the horrors of WWII.

This is simply not a scary movie. That's the biggest and really the only measuring stick for a horror movie. At almost 2 hours, it's way too long. The pace is way too slow. The look of the production seems smaller than what the budget would indicate.

The feel of the movie hearkens back to the 70s, and not in good way. Horror movies have moved on, but this one still believes that flies are scary. The CGI is not the best. The blood and guts are acceptable. The baby with maggots looks creepy. But other times, the movie holds back too much. The coyote attack should have been scary, but it's never given a chance. It's just not good enough for today's audience.

Reviewed by claudio_carvalho 7 / 10

Good Introduction for a Classic Horror Movie

In 1949, in Cairo, Egypt, the archaeologist and former priest Merrin (Stellan Skarsgård) has a meeting with Semelier (Ben Cross), the representative of a millionaire that is interested in an antique piece hidden in a circa 5 A.D. buried Christian church discovered in East of Africa in a British colony. Merrin lost the faith in God in the WWII, when he was obliged to select ten victims for a Nazi officer, and accepts the work. Together with the Catholic Father Francis (James D'Arcy), assigned by the Vatican to investigate how a church could be mysteriously built in a place 1,500 years before the records of the first church in the area, they travel to the spot with the authorization of the British command. They meet with Dr. Sarah (Izabella Scorupco), a woman that was brutalized by the Nazis in the war that is responsible for the local hospital, and while investigating, they realized that the church was built to protect the area against an evil force, which has been released along the excavations.

I liked the "Exorcist: The Beginning". The story satisfactorily explains the origin of the character of Father Lancaster Merrin of the classic 1973 "The Exorcist", a decadent man who faces an evil force after losing his faith in God and returns to his path of "Man of God". Stellan Skarsgård has an excellent performance; the story and atmosphere are good; the special effects are only reasonable, specially the hyenas attacking the boy, which is not convincing. I am not fan of sequels, but this one worked very well, in spite of the non-favorable reviews in IMDb. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Exorcista: O Começo" ("Exorcist: The Beginning")

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