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MOVIES / ON DVD / EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING
Exorcist: The Beginning

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Exorcist: The Beginning (2004)

11%
0%
28%
N/A
N/A
N/A
11 %
Reviews Counted: 127 Fresh: 14  Rotten:113 Average Rating: 3.5/10
 
Consensus: A mediocre, gory horror film, nowhere near the quality of the 1973 original.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins

Synopsis: Father Lankester Merrin thinks that he has glimpsed the face of Evil. In the years following World War II, Merrin (STELLAN SKARSGÅRD) is relentlessly haunted by memories of the unspeakable brutality perpetrated against the innocent people of his parish. In the wake of all he has seen, both... Father Lankester Merrin thinks that he has glimpsed the face of Evil. In the years following World War II, Merrin (STELLAN SKARSGÅRD) is relentlessly haunted by memories of the unspeakable brutality perpetrated against the innocent people of his parish. In the wake of all he has seen, both his faith in his fellow man and the Almighty have deserted him. He can no longer honestly call himself a man of God. Merrin has traveled far from his native Holland in a desperate attempt to escape the horrors that he witnessed there. While drifting through Cairo, he is approached by a collector of rare antiquities to join a British archeological excavation in the remote Turkana region of Kenya. They have unearthed a Christian Byzantine church in inexplicably pristine condition - as if it had been buried on the day it was completed. The collector wants Merrin, an Oxford-educated archeologist, to find an ancient relic hidden within the church before the British discover it. But beneath the church, something much older sleeps, waiting to be awoken. Madness descends upon the local villagers and the contingent of British soldiers sent to guard the excavation. Merrin watches helplessly as the atrocities of war are repeated against another innocent village - atrocities he had prayed never to see again. The blood of innocents flows freely on the East African plain, and the horror has only just begun. In the place where Evil was born, Merrin will finally see its true face. Warner Bros. Pictures presents, a Morgan Creek production, Exorcist: The Beginning, directed by RENNY HARLIN and starring STELLAN SKARSGÅRD, JAMES D'ARCY and IZABELLA SCORUPCO. The film is produced by JAMES G. ROBINSON, executive produced by GUY McELWAINE and DAVID C. ROBINSON. Story by WILLIAM WISHER and CALEB CARR, screenplay by ALEXI HAWLEY. VITTORIO STORARO serves as cinematographer. The film is edited by MARK GOLDBLATT. Music by TREVOR RABIN. Exorcist: The Beginning will be released on August 20, 2004 by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, and internationally by Warner Bros. Pictures and Morgan Creek International. Exorcist: The Beginning has been rated "R" by the MPAA for "strong violence and gore, disturbing images and rituals, and for language including some sexual dialogue." [More]

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Starring: Stellan Skarsgard, James D'Arcy, Izabella Scorupco, Ralph Brown, Alan Ford

Director: Renny Harlin
Screenwriter: Alexi Hawley
Producer: James G. Robinson
Composer: Trevor Rabin

DVD Info

Release:

Jan 3, 2005

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region (unknown)
  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen 2.35

Audio:

  • Dolby Surround 5.1 English

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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Ratings Image
N/A

Reams of tedious exposition finally give way to a random jumble of horror movie clichés, rising to a shrill pitch of hysteria that is never remotely frightening.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2/5

It isn't quite hell, but clambering to the end of this dusty remnant of an idea is certainly purgatory.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/01/06
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

Harlin's hamfisted horror-show offers an hour and a half of tooth-grinding boredom followed by 20 minutes of all-singing, all-dancing, knees-up stupidity.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/07/04
Mark Kermode
Sight and Sound
Ratings Image
2/5

Laughably poor prequel that is dumb, nonsensical and not remotely scary -- however, it remains watchable thanks to Stellan Skarsgard.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/30/04
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon
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2/5

A botch job of mistimed scare scenes, bland characters and computer-generated hyenas.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/30/04
Nev Pierce
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/4

More than 30 years after the original hit screens, along comes the very best of the sequels.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/19/08
Lucius Gore
ESplatter
Ratings Image
1/5

Most of the movie feels nothing like an Exorcist film.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/30/07
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
2/4

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound
Ratings Image
N/A

The serious Catholic themes that made the original film genuinely disturbing have been flattened out into a cartoonish backstory pitting Merrin against Nazi storm troopers.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/27/07
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
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N/A

This is not horror. It's sadism.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/27/07
David Germain
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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N/A

Flawed, but still good.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/30/06
Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel
3BlackChicks Review
Ratings Image
1.5/4

Some things are better left mysterious, and some movies better left unmade.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/22/06
Peter T. Chattaway
Christianity Today
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
09/26/05
Onion AV Club
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Ratings Image
N/A

Harlin can stage an action sequence that will make you pee your pants, but conversation is a mystery to him.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/16/05
Jeremy C. Fox
Pajiba
Ratings Image
0/5

One would think studios would shy away from this dead horse; I guess the power of crap compels them.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/25/05
Uri Lessing
www.kcactive.com
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1/4

What is rather horrifying is how this would-be thriller manages the bizarre feat of being simultaneously dull and completely ridiculous.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/11/05
Michael Dequina
Mr. Brown's Movies
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1.5/5

I'd love to say this will be final nail in The Exorcist's coffin, but somehow I doubt it.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/06/05
Mike Bracken
Mike Bracken's Horror Films
Ratings Image
2.5/4

It doesn't disappoint.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/01/05
Jeffrey M. Anderson
SPLICEDWire
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3/10

Exorcist: The Beginning makes the mistake of confusing loud noises, grotesque images, obscene violence, and buckets of blood for frights.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/15/05
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com
Ratings Image
N/A

The prequel to William Friedkin popular shock opera emphasizes unpleasantness over scares and coherence.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/25/04
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Pictures

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News

Schrader's Exorcist Prequel Gets a Release Date
posted by Scott Weinberg April 14, 2005
Remember all the hoopla that surrounded last year's "Exorcist: The Beginning"? How the execs didn't like...


Schrader's Shelved Exorcist Sequel to See Limited Release in '05
posted by Scott Weinberg December 09, 2004
Moviehole chimes in with an exclusive scoop update on Paul Schrader's version of "Exorcist: The...

Around the Network

• Exorcist: The Beginning at Rotten Tomatoes
• Exorcist: The Beginning at IGN
• Exorcist: The Beginning at AskMen
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