August 26, 2004

FILM REVIEW

‘Exorcist: The Beginning’
fails to capture mystique of original horror classic

By Val Esquivel
Special to the Times

In 1973, one film set the standard for what a horror movie should be. Void of hockey mask machete-wheeling serial killers, chest-bursting aliens, or backwoods cannibalistic hillbillies with a fetish for chainsaws, “The Exorcist,” based on William Peter Blatty’s best selling novel, unleashed a whole new realm to the horror genre.

In a pioneering move, “The Exorcist” put a literal spin on the classic good versus evil battle, which has been waged since recorded time. For the past 30 years, the sounds of “Tubular Bells” has sent shivers down the spines of movie goers who correlate the theme song with the demonic possession of a little girl, who is capable of spewing green bile, speaking in tongues all while levitating above her bed. This franchise, which is rumored to be cursed thanks to PR machinery, has now been revisited explaining the origin of the ultimate protagonist, Father Lankester Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard).

In what looks to be Hollywood’s latest adaptation of the classic, “Paradise Lost” by John Milton, the opening sequence paints a gruesome scene as a fallen soldier makes his way through a battlefield of slain comrades. As the soldier walks across the wasteland, the casualties of many of the deceased have been crucified on inverted crosses, hinting that something far more sinister may be at hand.

Fast forward to the late 1940s Africa where we see a younger Lankester Merrin working as an archeologist rather then his expected “man of the cloth” persona. With a pension for treasure hunting and hard liquor, he is coerced into leading an excavation into Kenya. It is in this exact geographic location that a Christian church from the Byzantine era lies unscathed, buried for centuries. Upon his arrival Merrin and his crew experience a boy ravaged by rabid jackals, an abundance of insects, swelling lesions, and a conflict between the indigenous tribes and the more civilized Europeans. Four Horsemen of Apocalypse anyone?

“Exorcist: The Beginning” does its best to build up the final confrontation between Father Merrin and the possessed, and the film does do a solid job of concealing the identity of the antagonist, but what worked in 1974 doesn’t really fly in 2004. When the video games we play are chock full of gore and disembodiment, headline news reports on senseless acts of violence and decapitation, audiences need a bit more to rattle their nerves.

The saving grace of the film comes in the acting of Stellan Skargsgard as a man who has seemingly lost his faith in his convictions. Throughout his journey the reaffirmation of faith ultimately results in triumph over the ultimate evil. The film is worth checking out just for the sheer hype, but in terms of fright, “Exorcist: The Beginning” fails to capture the mystique of the original horror classic.