Exorcist: The Beginning

The horrendous circumstances which surrounded the production(s) of this disastrous prequel will one day be stuff of legend, I’m sure. The remarkable tale is being fleshed out in a book (which I highly anticipate) being penned by captainhowdy.com Life Member Mike Garrett, titled Evil Against Evil.

I found myself almost a month late viewing the film I covered for nearly five years on my website. Well, actually – I could have been 18 months late… I guess it all depends on which version you’re talking about and which changed-release-date you believed in.

Regardless, on August 20 2004, Exorcist: The Beginning opened around the States and came in at number 1 for the weekend, taking over 40 million at the coveted Box Office. Pretty impressive.

I read a mixed bag of reviews. Some were ‘for’ the film, most against it. I tried my hardest to not read too much into any of the reviews. I was going to watch the film on my terms with a clear head – a clear conscience and decide for myself. I owed myself that much, after all.

Funny, I thought, that most of the people who were saying they really enjoyed it suggested you should watch it without thinking about the original Exorcist. If you just watch it as a film unto itself – they said – then it really is a great film. Perhaps that is true. I will never know.

Now, I understand that there is an entire generation of cinema enthusiasts who likely haven’t even seen or bothered with the original (18 million in one weekend, anyone?), but as a far as I am concerned, this is a prequel to one of the greatest horror films of all time. For me to sit through it and NOT draw comparisons to the original would be ludicrous! The original is the ONLY reason this new prequel exists, against the wishes of the creator, William Peter Blatty. I WILL draw comparisons as I watch and no one should be expected to do otherwise. If they didn’t want us thinking about The Exorcist while we sat for two hours, they should have called it ‘Terror in the Tomb’ or something, not using the name we hold so dear. Hey – come to think of it – they might have made more money that way!

So, I figured I’d give this film the ultimate challenge. See if it lived up to the original 1973 classic. See if Morgan Creek made a prequel worthy of William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty’s timeless masterpiece. I watched the original first. Then, straight afterward, I watched the prequel.