Exorcist: The Beginning

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Exorcist: The Beginning

R,

2004,

1h 54m,

Horror

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10%

128 Reviews

Tomatometer

27%

50,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

10%

Tomatometer

128 Reviews

27%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Father Merrin is haunted by his experiences in World War II, when occupying Nazi troops forced him to be complicit in their atrocities. In the aftermath, he has renounced his faith and begun working as an archaeologist. He travels to Kenya, where a fifth-century Byzantine church holds ancient relics. There he encounters Sarah, a doctor and concentration camp survivor. The strange occurrences that soon begin reunite him with the evil he sought to escape.

Critics Consensus

A mediocre, gory horror film, nowhere near the quality of the 1973 original.

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Namrata Joshi

Outlook

Jan 7, 2019

2/4

The sfx in the climactic duel with the Devil is cheesy to say the least and the Devil's makeup render him more laughable than scary. On the face of it, the dice is loaded heavily against the movie.

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J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Feb 27, 2007

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.

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Ian Nathan

Empire Magazine

Apr 1, 2006

2/5

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

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James Croot

The Post NZ

Oct 7, 2022

2/5

One of the most pointless prequels of all-time.

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Nigel Floyd

The List

Apr 22, 2019

1/5

Leaving aside the folly of making a prequel to William Friedkin's 1973 horror classic, this fails on every level. Ninety minutes of tedious exposition give way to a random jumble of horror clichés that rise to a shrill pitch of hysteria.

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Dorothy Woodend

The Tyee (British Columbia)

Aug 24, 2017

Unlike the first film, in which audience members fainted and threw up, the showdown between good and evil prompted more laughter amongst the audience than terror.

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Hermione S

Sep 14, 2018

Even though I think this is the better prequel, it has a mediocre story with awful quality and quality and development.

Luke P

Jul 19, 2018

It does the 1973 original no justice as a prequel. Too much too fast. The CGI is terrible. The film falls short the most in its writing. They made it into a semen-clunker.

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Finn W

Dec 13, 2017

not as bad as the reviews lead you to believe. has it's scary moments, but overall isn't a very scary movie. the acting is good, so that wasn't the problem. it's the script that's lacking entertainment and excitement.

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Han S

Nov 1, 2017

Super dumb bad horror sequel movie.

Rey R

Mar 2, 2017

A reshoot of ''Dominion'' commissionned by stupid producers, this one is technically more busy than the original, so more interesting for some, with good ideas, but its also often stupid, with writing and camerawork reeking of desperation to please. The most traveled road have been prioritized; jump scares, ominous sound design, random non sequiturs just to drop a horror tidbit, all blights that Dominion was free from. They switched the interesting lead actress, got rid of her complexity and replaced her with a langorous beauty who has to be the possessed so she can be shown sweating in a tight nightie. A central element to this prequel story is the possession of the african boy refered to in the Heretic; in this movie he is replaced by this blond bombshell. I see what the producers were aiming for but for once the public spoke and reminded them that dumbing things down is not always a good thing, so it makes a typical horror movie that gives some jumps but leaves no lasting impact. One last ''detail''; this one manages to be offensively racist and sexist, two things that Dominion actively opposed by its far more graceful characterisations. I give this 2.5 but what i mean is 2.7

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Han S

Nov 26, 2016

Exorcist: The Beginning makes the fatal mistake of confusing "gross" with "scary". It's a disgrace to the original; a haphazardly shot, laughably stupid, and scare-free exercise in cinematic filth.

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Renny Harlin

Director

Stellan Skarsgård

Father Lankester Merrin

Izabella Scorupco

Sarah

James D'Arcy

Father Francis

Remy Sweeney

Joseph

Julian Wadham

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Synopsis

Father Merrin is haunted by his experiences in World War II, when occupying Nazi troops forced him to be complicit in their atrocities. In the aftermath, he has renounced his faith and begun working as an archaeologist. He travels to Kenya, where a fifth-century Byzantine church holds ancient relics. There he encounters Sarah, a doctor and concentration camp survivor. The strange occurrences that soon begin reunite him with the evil he sought to escape.

Director: Renny Harlin
Producer: James G. Robinson
Screenwriter: William Wisher Jr., Caleb Carr, Alexi Hawley, William Peter Blatty
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Morgan Creek Productions
Rating: R (Gore|Disturbing Images and Rituals|Language|Some Sexual Dialogue|Strong Violence)
Genre: Horror
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 20, 2004, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 7, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $41.8M
Runtime: 1h 54m
Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby SRD, DTS, Surround
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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