Exorcist: The Beginning (DVD)

It goes without saying that the original Exorcist just may be the very best horror movie of all-time, for me it sits firmly at the top along with Alien and Aliens for that matter. So when word of an Exorcist prequel came out I was initially excited, yet cautious, considering these things rarely turn out well, and history holds true here.

Word on the production of Exorcist: The Beginning was rocky from the beginning as the film was first shot by Paul Schrader, a version that was quickly nixed by Warner Bros. and Schrader was replaced by Renny Harlin whom ended up completely re-shooting the entire film, the version we have here on DVD.

The film ventures into the origin of the beginnings of the demon, which possessed poor Regan MacNeil in the original film. Drawn to East Africa due to word of the unveiling of a buried Christian Byzantine church we are introduced to a young Father Merrin played by Stellan Skarsgård, but it is quickly realized that there is something off about this church and the evil that dwells there soon awakens and our story gets going. Unfortunately, the limited budget and sketchy storyline turn this into a CGI-ridden mess that is never convincing, nor scary.

That said this DVD does have one feature that sheds a bit of light on the production and what exactly Harlin had to work with. Considering the film had already been shot once, and was now going into an entirely brand new production stage, limiting the amount of time available to shoot as well as the money available for special effects. Fortunately, all this comes to light as Harlin lets us in on the trials and tribulations in his commentary.

Harlin is extremely open to the fact that some of the CGI is very poor, especially the CGI wolves used for the production, and sheds a lot of light on just what he was going for and where he believed the production succeeded and where it failed. It is refreshing to hear a filmmaker be outwardly honest about scenes he is not satisfied with and explain the process of how it came to be so good, or in some cases here, so bad. He even opens himself up to comments by supplying his official website address welcoming any and all comments of which he says he will reply to as many as he can. Interested? Well, click here to drop him a line.

On top of his filmmaking comments he also points out a few times in which a new version of Captain Howdy makes his appearance in the film, I have added three screen caps and times to our DVD gallery if you wish to check those out, just click the link to the right.

The only other features on the disc are a traditional behind-the-scenes feature as well as the theatrical trailer, which obviously are all the studio felt was necessary considering the only people picking up this DVD are likely to be those that couldn't care what exactly was on it beyond the movie itself.

Overall, this film is unsuccessful and this DVD isn't one I would recommend you buy, but Harlin's commentary is worth a listen for you film fanatics and it won't exactly ruin your Saturday night if you are drawn to rent it.