Dominion vs. Exorcist: The Beginning

Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist vs. Exorcist: The Beginning

This is the only example I can think of where two people have been able to make their own versions of the same basic idea. Paul Schrader (who earned my admiration for writing Scorsese's Taxi Driver and Raging Bull) decided to take the Exorcist in a serious direction. His version focuses on the a younger version of Max von Sydow's priest from the original Exorcist. Father Merrin has lost his faith after facing the evil of Nazis in WW2, but he is forced to recover it when confronted with the pure evil of the demon. One of the most effective scenes is a re-inaction of a traumatizing event from the war orchestrated by the demon to torment Father Merrin. Building on this one memory, Schrader brings back some of the ideas he explored in his screenplay of The Last Temptation of Christ as the demon tests Merrin's resolve.

Unfortunately, Schrader's vision didn't have enough pea soup spewing and crucifix humping for the studio. They gave Schrader the axe and hired the hack Renny Harlin. You may know Renny as the genius behind Die Hard 2: Die Harder, which up until last summer was the only misstep in the Die Hard series. Renny uses some of Schrader's footage, but does a Dawn of the Dead remakification of the original story. (A DotD remakification is where all serious subtext or meaning is removed and replaced by mindless action...and/or fast moving zombies.)

Harlin's version does have more guts and gore, but not enough to compete with torture porn like Saw and Hostel. When it came out at theaters, blood fans weren't interested in the soft core stuff, and fans of the original Exorcist's deeper, heavier feel knew better having read about all the hiring/firing chaos. So when Exorcist: the Beginning bombed, the studio decided to let Schrader finish editing his film and release it on DVD. Schrader may have had a really good horror movie if he had had the funding for a few re-shoots and some proper post-production work. The low budget really shows with the weak special effects.

Maybe there is a curse on movies related to the Exorcist. The previous two sequels starred high caliber actors like Richard Burton, James Earl Jones, and George C. Scott, and neither of them came close to the original. But they're fun if you want some jumbled up background story to the original, and the Exorcist 2 has some pretty cool visuals.

Verdict: Check out Dominion if you're a big fan of the original. If a friend tries to make you watch Exorcist: The Beginning, you will know for a fact that they are actually out to get you. Burn the disc and watch your back around that "friend."