Dominion - Prequel To The Exorcist (DVD)

...That version is known as Dominion and has now been released for the public to admire.

The only inevitability of this film, of course, is the comparison between this version and Exorcist The Beginning. Having watched the two films, it is really a rather bizarre experience given that they are essentially retellings of similar stories. Indeed, half the cast members from The Beginning are also in Dominion. It wasn't until I started to ...
...focus of the story in Dominion is rather different to The Beginning. Dominion is more psychological. It examines the loss of Merrin's faith and his journey back to self-discovery. The Beginning is much more about horror - a vague attempt to recreate the shocks and scares of the 1973 classic. You can see exactly why Dominion was rejected by the studio, purely on the grounds of commercial appeal. The Exorcist is revealed as one of the horror classics ... more

In 1945, a German soldier is found murdered in a ditch. His superiors want retribution. They target a small town nearby, round up the townspeople in the central square and demand to know who was responsible. When nobody is forthcoming, their attention turns to Father Lankester Merrin, the town's priest. The German commander demands that Father Merrin tell him who has confessed to the crime, but when the priest is unable to offer a guilty party, the cruel German inisists that in the absence of the perpetrator then the priest must nominate ten people to die in his place. Scarcely able to speak, the tormented priest eventually concedes and one by one the ten victims are selected and shot. It is a truly dreadful experience, and when the German commander spits the words, "God is not here today", Father Merrin believes him to be right.

Years later, the tortured priest is on a sabbatical, turning his attention to other things in the absence of his faith. In the African desert, a strange discovery has been made in the sand. A fifth century temple of worship has been found, the roof just poking out above the sand and stone. Father Merrin is brought to the site where the English army has taken occupation and is overseeing the archaeological dig. Uniting himself with a young priest who wants to start up a missionary in the area, Merrin commences work on the site. It is a mystery indeed. The stonework is almost entirely new, showing no signs of weather damage. It would appear that, for whatever reason, the temple was buried almost as soon as it had been built.

Unbeknown to Merrin, the temple conceals a dark secret. Little does he know that soon he will encounter an evil that will torment him for the rest of his life.

When it was announced that a new Exorcist film was to be made, the movie world was gripped with excitement. Rather than a sequel, the film was to be a prequel, introducing us to a younger Father Merrin and telling us the tale of how the priest was first introduced to the demon who possessed Regan MacNeil in the original 1973 classic. Directors and writers were signed up but when the finished product was not considered horrible enough, the original director was binned and a new version - Exorcist - The Beginning - was put into production and eventually released to cinemas (with lukewarm responses). However, the original version of the prequel had been all but finished and was subsequently left languishing on a cutting room shelf. That version is known as Dominion and has now been released for the public to admire.

The only inevitability of this film, of course, is the comparison between this version and Exorcist The Beginning. Having watched the two films, it is really a rather bizarre experience given that they are essentially retellings of similar stories. Indeed, half the cast members from The Beginning are also in Dominion. It wasn't until I started to watch Dominion that I realized just how similar the two films are - similar, but muddled around, if that makes sense. Dominion, for example, opens with the Nazi execution scene that is seen as a flashback quite some way into The Beginning. Other story / character elements are there too. The African villagers have similar, but subtly different, roles in both movies, as do the English troops, hellbent on wiping out the "savages" as quickly as possible. Some things are changed quite considerably though. The English doctor has a significantly different role in each film. The African children have a far different part to play in each film and the eventual appearance of Pazuzu the demon in each film is very different.

As you can imagine, this means that the focus of the story in Dominion is rather different to The Beginning. Dominion is more psychological. It examines the loss of Merrin's faith and his journey back to self-discovery. The Beginning is much more about horror - a vague attempt to recreate the shocks and scares of the 1973 classic. You can see exactly why Dominion was rejected by the studio, purely on the grounds of commercial appeal. The Exorcist is revealed as one of the horror classics of all time. A modern-day audience will therefore be looking for more of the same, none of which is really to be found in Dominion. Dominion is one of the least horrific horror films I've seen for some time, with only mild gore and occasional violence. Many reviewers have opted for Dominion as the superior film, preferring Paul Schrader's subtle, more thoughtful approach to the subject matter than Renny Harlin's schlock horror approach in The Beginning.
For me, faced with a choice I'm more inclined to go for The Beginning. I'm afraid I found Dominion to be rather dull. It takes quite a long time to get going and never really manages to conjure up any sense of malevolence, which to me is crucial to the subject matter. Dominion feels as though it takes a long time to get going and when it does, it has little pace and drive to interest the audience. The horror is notable in its absence and whereas Renny Harlin hasn't missed a single opportunity to make The Beginning horrific, Schrader seems to have gone out of his way to AVOID every such opportunity. The Beginning is a more conventional piece of storytelling, but drives its way through the subject matter to come to a more satisfying conclusion. A key element of The Beginning is to keep the audience guessing as who is possessed by the demon. In Dominion, there is no such surprise / twist and the action seems to float along at a fairly even pace. It's a bit of a "stop-starter" - just when you think things are about to get interesting, it all slows down again.

Technically, Dominion is also the inferior cousin to The Beginning. Computer-generated jackals are placed very awkwardly amongst the human cast members during one scene and really don't work very well at all. The make-up used in Dominion to portray injuries is far less effective and even simple props such as a butterfly in someone's hand are mechanically misplaced. Dominion feels very much like the poor relative to The Beginning's blockbuster feel and you can't help thinking, therefore, that Schrader avoided some of the horror more through budgetary constraint than artistic purpose.

Stellan Skarsgard's Father Merrin remains a fairly likeable character, even if he doesn't smile once throughout the film. His younger sidekick, Father Francis, is mildly irritating, but is there largely to provide youthful, innocent contrast to Merrin's wizened cynicism - and this works well. It falls to a boy band member (Billy Crawford) to take on the role of Cheche, a local outcast who eventually becomes possessed by the demon. He's a strange choice, but given that he really has to just wander around in very few clothes, miming to a voiceover, it isn't the most demanding role in the world. Ralph Brown's sergeant major is similarly overblown in both movies, but is at least effective in his portrayal of madness.

Despite favourable and preferable reviews in the press, I really wasn't very enthused with Dominion. Watching The Beginning first doesn't help. The two films simply aren't unique enough to be appreciated separately and I can't help thinking that the viewer is inclined to prefer the first one that he / she sees. Dominion felt a bit cheap to me and it has to be said that I struggled to stay with it to the end. It's not a horror film. It's a psychological thriller. But it's not very thrilling either. It has to be said that neither The Beginning nor Dominion is ever likely to be revered as a classic and I think it is probably wiser that a nice thick, black line is drawn under the whole project.

Not recommended
 

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