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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - August 20th

"EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING" released in 2004

Set before Father Lankester Merrin's (Stellan Skarsgård) exorcism of Regan MacNeil in Georgetown, Merrin has left the priesthood (having lost his faith in the aftermath of World War II) and now works as an archaeologist. Asked to join a British dig in Kenya, Merrin is teamed with a Vatican scholar, Father Francis (James D'Arcy) to investigate a mysterious Christian Byzantine church built circa 500 A.D. - long before Christianity had reached that region of Africa, in Renny Harlin's reworked version of Exorcist: The Beginning.

Watch the Exorcist: The Beginning trailer below!

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After leaving the priesthood, Lankester Merrin (Skarsgård) is approached in Cairo, Eygpt by a sinister collector of antiquities named Semelier (Ben Cross) who encourages him to join a British archaeological dig in the Derati Valley, Kenya, where an ancient Christian church has recently been uncovered. Semelier in particular wishes Merrin to find and bring him an ancient relic of a demon, thought to be in the church, and presents him with an impression of the idol (a small headed statue of Pazuzu). Intrigued, Merrin accepts and travels to Kenya where the British commanding officer of the dig, Major Granville (Julian Wadham) sends Merrin to the Turkana region with Vatican scholar Father Francis (D'Arcy) - who has his own reasons for joining the dig. Arriving at the site with his translator and guide is Chuma (Andrew French), Merrin meets with the forman Jefferies (Alan Ford) and the camp doctor Sarah (Izabella Scorupco) who tell him of the strange events that have occurred since the dome of the church was unearthed. Determined to learn more, Merrin and Father Francis enter the church to find it in pristine condition with two oddities; all of the statues of the angels holding weapons are pointing the spears downward (as if guarding something), and the church appears to have been deliberately buried once construction was finished. Disturbed by these facts, Merrin consults with the former lead archaeologist, Monsieur Bession (Patrick O'Kane) who is in a mental hospital in Nairobi, but finds Bession has gone mad and carved a swastika on his chest and is speaking through demonic possession in the voice of the sadistic SS commander who tormented Merrin during the war (and the cause of Merrin losing his faith in God). Bession then kills himself in front of Merrin. Father Gionetti (David Bradley), warden of the asylum, speculates that Bession was not possessed but rather "touched" by a demon, though Merrin is very skeptical. Back at the dig, more disturbing events take place;  a local boy is attacked and killed by hyenas and Jeffries is found murdered, hung upside down. Major Granville arrives with a detachment of troops to secure the area as the surrounding tribesmen grow increasingly aggressive (scared by the omen of the chief's wife giving birth to a stillborn baby covered with maggots). Merrin confronts Father Francis, who explains  that 1,500 years prior, a great army led by two priests came to the alley searching for the origin of evil, but that very evil presence consumed them and they killed each other. When the lone surviving priest made it back, Emperor Justinian ordered a church be built over the site and then buried to seal the evil force inside of it. Convinced now that the evil inside the church is the cause of the misery and death visited on the Valley, Merrin must now struggle to restore his own faith to save the innocent soul of a local boy Joseph (Remy Sweeney) from a diabolical spirit, arms himself with his copy of the Roman Ritual's to lead an exorcism where only only protagonist can survive!

Father Francis: So I was sent to see if the legends were true.
Lancaster Merrin: What legend?
Father Francis: That after the war in Heaven... This is the spot where Lucifer fell.

Top:   Former priest Lankester Merrin (Stellan Skarsgård) is tasked to investigate the origins of a mysterious church found in Africa;   Above:   Merrin is also asked to find the small demon-idol of Pazuzu, believed to be in the church.

After the release of the Exorcist III, studio Morgan Creek embarked on the next film in the series. Original author (and Exorcist III director) William Peter Blattey and William Friedkin refused to participate in the production, so producers hired John Frankenheimer to helm the project. The screenplay had a long and painful gestation process. With Blatty refusing to get involved, this resulted in over a decade being spent trying to get a screenplay together, with the producers eventually settling on a draft by Caleb Carr, which incorporated elements from an earlier screenplay by William Wisher Jr.. Frankenheimer would voluntarily stepped down from directing the movie (one month before his death), and was replaced by director Paul Schrader, who aimed for a more psychological film, and delivered what he described as "footage without any of the bloody violence the backers had wanted."  Filmed as Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, the film was essentially completed, but was then shelved by Morgan Creek Productions, who feared the film would be unsuccessful and fired Schrader before approaching director Renny Harlin.

When Morgan Creek hired Harlin, he told them that Paul Schrader's version was completely un-salvageable, and without any intention of actually signing onto the project, said that they'd be better of re-shooting the project from scratch. Much to his shock, James G. Robinson, the head of Morgan's Creek, agreed to this and offered Harlin an even bigger budget ($50 million budget added on top of Dominion's orginal $30 million expenditure) and bigger paycheck than they had given Schrader. Several changes followed the firing of Paul Schrader, both in crew and cast. Screenwriter Alexi Hawley was called to retool the previous script, and he cut off some characters of Paul Schrader's version, besides adding some new ones, like the one played by actress Izabella Scorupco (as Sarah). Actor Gabriel Mann, who played Father Francis in the original version, was not able to re-shoot his scenes due to schedule problems, so Harlin replaced him with James D'Arcy. Most of the remaining cast of the original production decided not to return out of loyalty to Schrader, with Stellan Skarsgård (as Lankester Merrin) and Julian Wadham (playing Major Granville) being the only actors to return. Almost 90% of the movie was re-shot, with only the minimal use of Schrader's footage remaining; including two minutes of the Holland village massacre flashback (though in the original edit the scene is over twenty-minutes long), shots from Granville's suicide scene, and other minor establishing and cutaway shots.

TRIVIA:   Both Stellan Skarsgård and Max von Sydow, who played the original Father Merrin, are from Sweden.

Top:   Father Francis (James D'Arcy) tries to save Joseph (Remy Sweeney) by hiding in the church, but he is too late!    Above:   His faith restored, Merrin faces the demon possessed Sarah (Izabella Scorupco) in an exorcism!

With filming on Harlin's version completed in February 2004, the film was originally rated NC-17 "due to the film being too graphic and violent". The offending scenes were edited and the result was the R-rating for "strong violence and gore, disturbing images and rituals, and for language including some sexual dialogue". Released six months later, Exorcist: The Beginning was not the box office blockbuster Morgan Creek was expecting, earning only $41 million in the US and Canada. William Peter Blatty said that watching this film was his "most humiliating professional experience." and was nearly thrown out of this film's premiere with Paul Schrader for loudly laughing during the screening. In stark contrast, original Dominion co-writer Caleb Carr (who also received a story credit on The Beginning), described Harlin's version as being "far superior" to Schrader's Dominion (which he described as being complete "garbage"). Ultimately Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said that, "Schrader's film is a notch better than Harlin's, but when you boil out the demon feathers, it's the same damn movie!". Disappointed at the box office performance of The Beginning, Morgan Creek allowed Warner Bros to release Schrader's version theatrically under the title Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. However, Dominion was only slightly more accepted by the critics (with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 30%, against The Beginning's 11%) and grossed a little over $250,000 during it's entire limited release! Perhaps the final word was best described by prominent critic Roger Ebert who wrote, "I've seen both versions and much prefer Schrader's, and yet it must be said that Harlin did not prostitute himself in his version... but you know what? Now that two versions exist and are available, each one makes the other more interesting."

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   11%