Exorcist – Dominion/Exorcist – The Beginning

Exorcist – Dominion
Exorcist – The Beginning

Rating – 3 out of 5, but if you watch them together 4 out of 5

Who can forget the Exorcist? A movie that can still scare us decades later. But how did it all start? Here we have not one, but two ways to try and explain that. And honestly each movie has flaws and well as its good part and while the plot between the two movies is similar they do go in separate directions.

Quite frankly, had they combined these two movies together and removed the overlapping scenes it would have made for a pretty good movie. So even though each movie is somewhat weak on its own, watching both of them back to back makes for a pretty good story.

Father Merrin goes to Africa on an archaeological dig after a church has been uncovered. We get the sense the church has a sinister past which may be caught up in voodoo or tribal legend. There is trouble in the land of the dig and a mass burial and cover-up seems to going on. And the more of the church that is discovered and uncovered the more mysterious happenings begin to take shape.

If nothing else we learn a lot of Father Merrin and his dealings with the Nazis. We learn of the horrors he has had to witness and the sacrifices he has made to survive. We learn how his faith has been tested and his somewhat shaky relationship to the church.

As stand alone movies they are somewhat hit and miss, as both movies have their flaws, plot holes and different story lines, but as a background pieces they work quite well. As I mentioned, it’s best to see both of them to get the real story of this movie. One movie is too Hollywood, while the other has an under whelmed horror theme. Pick and choose the best pieces as you watch and it makes for a good story.

But look at this way, they are both on sale at Amazon and you get both for less than the cost of the Exorcist.

Dominion – Prequel to the Exorcist
Exorcist – The Beginning

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• Exorcist II – Heretic – Ranking 3 out of 5
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• An American Haunting – Rating 2 out of 5
• Rob Zombie’s Take on Halloween and Halloween II
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