Exorcist: The Beginning

Review by Jason Gaston

Time for another trip to an already dry well, kids, with Exorcist: The Beginning. Yep, the new buzz word is prequel... when you're out of ideas to go foreword, why not backwards? I mean, if you've seen the last two Exorcist movies, you know that they can't get much worse, right?

Thankfully, it doesn't. Granted, Exorcist: The Beginning isn't a great movie by any means... It'd be a stretch to call it average... but it's not overly terrible. Boring, yes... Plodding, yes... Predictable... you betcha. Worse than Exorcist II or Exorcist III? Not by a long shot.

Exorcist: The Beginning is all about Father Merrin's first encounter with Satan while on an archeological dig in Africa. I guess I should point out that at this point in his life, Merrin has lost his faith and turned his back on the church and, wow, isn't that a bold story choice? I mean, a priest who has lost his faith. What a completely original idea! I don't believe I've ever seen anything like that in this kind of movie!

Anyway, Merrin goes to Africa to figure out why an ancient Christian church has been found buried in an area that shouldn't have had Christianity in the first place when it was built. Upon entering, Merrin and his various expendable friends unleash an evil that take possession over the land.

Pea soup for everyone!

In of itself, I suppose that The Beginning is a somewhat satisfying backstory to The Exorcist which is, I still believe, the scariest movie I've ever seen. But even though this prequel starts out promising and creepy, it quickly falls back on easy shock scares and horror movie clichés until the entire affair becomes one big - and painfully ordinary - mess.

On top of all this, Exorcist: The Beginning commits the biggest sin that a horror movie can... it's boring. Not the slow methodical pace of The Others, but rather a wandering where-the-heck-do-we-go-next mentality that is easily felt as you watch it.

I wouldn't say watching this movie was pure Hell, but Exorcist: The Beginning is not what I would call an effective or even a very interesting horror movie. It's okay in a B-movie sort of way and if you go in with little expectations hoping for nothing but gore you won't be disappointed, but for us long-time fans of The Exorcist this is just another slap in the face.