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When Merrin Met Satan.
Review: The first three quarters of the Exorcist: The Beginning is
good, the last quarter is dreadful. This prequel to arguably the
scariest movie of all time starts off with an overwhelming opening
scene, builds into a compelling story and then falls apart at its
climax. The problems during the production of this fourth
installment is a tale of its own. Going by this final product, the
best evidence of those problems is in some of the godawful writing
and absolutely baffling directing. How many times was the ending
re-written? Because the final version is laughable and collapses
into a parody of the brilliant realism this film was building and
its predecessors (well at least the original Exorcist and Exorcist
III) had already built. How was this ending approved? If John
Schrader's version wasn't what the studio wanted, did Renny Harlin's
match their vision? Ugh. Hopefully, Schrader's version will be released
on DVD soon and make up for this mistake. In the meantime, close
your eyes for the last 20 minutes or so and just listen. Recommended for die-hard fans only.
Learn more: IMDb
DVD version viewed: Exorcist: The Beginning
(Widescreen Edition) (Warner,
UPC 085392467426)
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