Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist

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Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Paul Schrader
Produced by	James G. Robinson David C. Robinson Wayne Morris
Written by	William Peter Blatty (The Exorcist
Starring	Stellan Skarsgård Gabriel Mann
Music by	Angelo Badalamenti Dog Fashion Disco Trevor Rabin
Cinematography	Vittorio Storaro
Editing by	Tim Silano
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Morgan Creek
Release date(s)	May 20, 2005
Running time	117 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$30,000,000
Gross revenue	$2
Preceded by	Exorcist: The Beginning
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist is a 2005 horror/thriller film directed by Paul Schrader.

This is the original version of the third sequel to The Exorcist. The film was basically completed, and then shelved by Morgan Creek. Renny Harlin replaced Schrader as the director of Exorcist: The Beginning and a new film was made, using the same plot and much of the same footage, attempting to make it more of a horror story. After the poor response to the second (Harlin's) version, Morgan Creek allowed Schrader's original version of the film to be released under the title Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.

The basic premise is similar to the theatrically released Exorcist: The Beginning, but the approach and the plot are different. The mood is more thoughtful, and the direction is less action-film oriented.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Reception 3 Cast 4 Trivia 5 Goofs 6 DVD release 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot

The young Father Lankester Merrin (played by Skarsgård, who played the same part in the 2004 prequel) travels to East Africa. He intends to rebuild his faith, which had faltered after witnessing some of the atrocities of World War II.

He meets up with a team of archaeologists, who are seeking to unearth a church that they believe has been buried for centuries. Merrin helps them, and the ensuing events result in an encounter with Pazuzu, the demon who would return in The Exorcist.

[edit] Reception

Critical reaction to Dominion has been mixed to negative. It holds a rating of 29% on Rotten Tomatoes^[1] and a score of 55 out of 100 on Metacritic^[2]. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a positive review, giving it three stars (out of four) and saying that it "does something risky and daring in this time of jaded horror movies: it takes evil seriously."^[3]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said that "Schrader's film is a notch better than Harlin's, but when you boil out the demon feathers, it's the same damn movie."^[4] Scott Tobias of The Onion's A.V. Club said that "Skarsgård [gives] a quietly mesmerizing performance," and that "Schrader's movie isn't particularly scary, but it's more substantive than The Exorcist and its sequels, because it takes demon possession out of head-spinning literalism and considers evil as something more real and commonplace."^[5]

David Edelstein of Slate said the film is "a good, thoughtful horror picture, and [very] close to being a very good one.^[6] Brent Simon of IGN gave the film a score of 4 out of 10, saying: "The overall feeling Dominion gives off is one of rootless languor. You keep waiting for someone or something to show up and seize control of the picture, but it never really happens until the final confrontation, which feels like it might as well come from a different movie. It's not blood or gore that's missing, it's context; Dominion is too polite and urbane to frighten. ^[7]

[edit] Cast

• Stellan Skarsgård as Father Lankester Merrin
• Gabriel Mann as Father Francis
• Clara Bellar as Rachel Lesno
• Billy Crawford as Cheche
• Ralph Brown as Sgt. Maj. Harris
• Israel Aduramo as Jomo
• Andrew French as Chuma
• Antonie Kamerling as Kessel
• Julian Wadham as Maj. Granville
• Mary Beth Hurt (uncredited) as Voice of Cheche

[edit] Trivia

• While Exorcist II: The Heretic showed Merrin's African exorcism in flashbacks, neither the Schrader film or the Harlin film use or refer to that version of the story.
• It is shot in Univisium (2:1) aspect ratio, although it was theatrically presented in 2.39:1.
• Schrader's son Sam suggested Dog Fashion Disco do the score for the last 20 minutes of the movie. They also composed the end credit song titled "Satan's March", which was the first time that the band created a song based around a cello part, an element which re-appeared on their 2006 album "Adultery".
• This is the first Warner Bros. film to have an original (but scrapped) version of a sequel / prequel to be released ( Warner Bros is only the distributor of this film, though; Morgan Creek financed this film). The next film to have the same treatment was Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, only to be a straight-to-DVD release. That film was released on November 28, 2006.
• Paul Schrader was only given $2 million to finish visual effects and post-production(which explains the shoddy CG and inconsistent audio quality).[1]
• Liam Neeson was cast first when John Frankenheimer was the director, but due to scheduling conflicts Neeson had to step down as Father Merrin before Paul Schrader was hired to direct the film.
• At the very end of the end credits, after the last production company logo has faded out and the screen is entirely black, a demon voice grumbles "I am perfection."
• Mary Beth Hurt (Paul Schrader's wife) does the uncredited voice of Cheche.

[edit] Goofs

• When Major Granville shoots himself, you clearly see that there is only a small bit of blood on the top of his head, but when the body bag is pulled back so Rachel can identify the body, the entire top of his head is blown open.
• In the scene where the flag is being taken down and folded, you hear "Taps" playing in the background. "Taps" is an American military song, and is not played by the British Army. "Last Post" would have been the appropriate music to be played.

[edit] DVD release

The DVD was released on October 25, 2005 by Warner Home Video. The DVD included deleted scenes, an audio commentary by Paul Schrader, and a photo gallery.

On October 10, 2006, Dominion was released with The Exorcist, The Exorcist: The Version You've Never Seen, Exorcist II: The Heretic, Exorcist III, Exorcist: The Beginning in The Exorcist: The Complete Anthology.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• "Schrader's Exorcism"
• Official site
• Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist at the Internet Movie Database
• Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist at Allmovie
• Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist at Box Office Mojo
• Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist at ComingSoon.net
• Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist at Box Office Prophets

v • d • e The Exorcist series Novels The Exorcist • The Ninth Configuration • Legion Original films The Exorcist (1973) • Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) • The Exorcist III (1990) Prequel films Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) • Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005) Characters Regan MacNeil • Father Lankester Merrin • Pazuzu Related William Peter Blatty • The Ninth Configuration (1980) • Repossessed (1990) • Possessed (2000)