"EXORCIST THE BEGINNING" (2004) (Stellan Skarsgärd, Izabella Scorupco) (R)
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QUICK TAKE:
Horror: While investigating a long-buried but recently discovered Catholic church in remote Africa, a former priest turned archaeologist digs up more than he bargained for when the Devil seemingly shows up, prepared to do battle with him.
PLOT:
It's Cairo 1949 and Lankester Merrin (STELLAN SKARSGÅRD) is a fallen priest who lost his faith during WWII and now works as an archaeologist. He's approached by a stranger who informs him that a long buried Byzantine church has been found by the British army in the remote Turkana region of Kenya. The man wants Merrin to find and bring him a religious artifact before the British get their hands on it, but the former priest is more intrigued by the notion of a church buried in the region more than a thousand years before that form of religion arrived in the area.
His interest piqued, Merrin arrives in the African country with young Father Francis (JAMES D'ARCY) who's been assigned by Major Granville (JULIAN WADHAM) of the British army to accompany him. There, he meets the local doctor, Sarah Novack (IZABELLA SCORUPCO), who's been trying to care for both the locals and various outsiders such as Jefferies (ALAN FORD). Learning that a plague apparently wiped out everyone there fifty years earlier, Merrin finally enters the church, only to discover the Crucifixion hanging upside down and he hears word that the previous lead archaeologist has gone mad.
The locals swear the place is cursed with evil, but neither Merrin nor Sarah believes any of that. Yet, when various odd events occur, a kid is killed by hyenas and a local boy, Joseph (REMY SWEENEY), shows signs of being possessed, they start to rethink their position. As things progressively get worse and scarier, Merrin must not only come to grips with his troubled past, but also his lack of faith that's now left him in a precarious situation when he must battle the Devil himself.
OUR TAKE: Full Review Coming Soon
The prequel (following the two sequels) to the original "The Exorcist," the film takes place around a quarter of a century before the original's well-known story begins.
Reportedly a disaster in the making where director Renny Harlin was brought in either to salvage or completely re-shoot what director Paul Schrader had originally done, the story focuses on the Merrin character from the first film in his earlier years and how and why he first encountered you know who.
Those with low tolerance levels for such supernatural and Devil-based horror might find all of it unsettling or maybe even scary, but this is really more of a gory and disgusting bloodbath -- filled with as many holes in the plot as the various bodies that pile up -- than a horror classic. If you want good scares, stick with the original.
Since Warner Bros. didn't screen this film for critics until the night before it opened, we're still working on our full artistic review, but the above should give you an indication of what to expect.
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