[Father Lamont]

Thanks. I do like Dominion very much, I just though maybe I could get some respect on ETB. Maybe I should try to boast THE HERETIC. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO!!!!!!!!!!!

[hatter76]

Funny, Im the one that Wrote that on Imdb.

[ManInKhakiExorcist]

Well, sure, we can certainly discuss its fine points. There are some. My favorites are the cinematography of Storaro, Skarsgard as Indiana Merrin (no sarcasm!), selected passages of performances by each of the major, non-child characters. D’arcy even does some compelling acting when he confronts Merrin about “the answers”. But I can’t say much else about the film that hasn’t been said.

M.I.K.E.

[ManInKhakiExorcist]

Good assertions and support for your case, Father Lamont. But I think this at IMDB sums up the opinion of non-fan’s best:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449086/board/thread/62567691?d=latest&t=20070617120207#latest

“Dominion is not a traditional Prequel, It’s better that it wasn’t, Does a Prequel to the Exorcist really need to be a Horror Film? If you Cut all the Demon scenes out of the origianal Exorcist, it wouldn’ be Considerd Horror.
The Truth is that The Exorcist is not a Traditional Horror Movie, Dominion’s Story is a very differn’t type of Story, Yes it should have been a little Creepier.

Dominion is an unfinished Film, It didn’t have a Proper post Production, The Bad FX are unfinished, thats why they look Bad.
Eorcist:The Beginning actually had much more Money spent on it as Dominion, just not enough time.” -GentleGiant783

Cheers!

M.I.K.E.

Ps.As often as I try to view E:TB — okay, not very often — it’s grueling; I gradually can’t stand it. Dominion is the opposite; its flaws pale in comparsion to its story and performances. E:TB, I just can’t honestly say the same about. E:TB is simply too technical and legal, and looks okay on the surface, I suppose. Anyhoo… to each their own. 🙂

But I appreciate your defense of E:TB; it’s better than most defenses I’ve read or heard. Good arguments and food for thought.

[Father Lamont]

I think that Linda Blair’s beuty was about the only saving grace of II.

[Ryan]

I wish ekm’s old in-depth discussion of The Heretic could be recovered somewhere. After reading that, even the most ardent dismisser of Boorman’s film would come to enjoy it to at least some degree. He made so many relevant points that it was almost unbelievable.

[Father Lamont]

have you checked the other pages? I will try and look for it.

[Jason Stringer]

I think that Linda Blair’s beauty was about the only saving grace of (Heretic).

I wholeheartedly agree! There are many other positive points about Heretic, but Linda Blair is about the only reason I ever watch it.

[Father Lamont]

Louise Fletcher did a decent job too. I thought she was sort of motherly to Regan. Way more than Kitty Winn.

[ManInKhakiExorcist]

Fine assessment of the film, Granny.

Gee, so BAD Exorcist sequels get BETTER and BETTER, each new one, huh? 😛 Almost makes me wanna see another one made. ALMOST. 😛

M.I.K.E.

[granville1]

Good comments, MIKE. “Lord knows I try” – me, too, but every time I come to The Heretic with a fresh attitude, the ineptness of the script just collapses me into irritation and misplaced laughter.

Good point too about the difference between the two films, esp. that Dominion has so much more merit than its pale imitator The Beginning.

I agree about the locusts. There is nothing scary about grasshoppers unless you see them en masse eating your crops. But cinematically they are not frightening, not even monster ones such as those featured in The Beginning of the End(Peter Graves, Peggy Castle, early 50’s). Hyenas can sometimes at least have a canine-mammalian fright attached to them (but of course that element of fear was compromised by Dominion’s and Beginning’s bad CG).

[ManInKhakiExorcist]

Boorman’s a piece of work, as is said piece of work. Incidentally, E:TB’s chock full of throwaway character-props. Renny Harlin must have been inspired by… the master. 😛

Oh yeah, and EKM states a great case in favor of the redemption of the film, but, his optimism and opinionating, compelling as they genuinely are, just aren’t powerful enough to make me enjoy or even appreciate the film enough to give the film another chance; Lord knows I try, but, the higher expectations, having read EKM’s argument, aren’t easily met when I try to re-view it.

Ironically, E:TB has more merit; it at least immitates — paley — Dominion, its originator. The same cannot be said for The Heretic with regard to the film it was theoretically based on, The Exorcist. The prequels share the same cinemtographer, same basic music and sets, same star and some actors… ooh, and same bad hyenas! The Heretic only has three of the original actors, and each aren’t handled as well (not that E:TB’s handling of return characters/actors is much better), to say the least. Plus it chose locusts over hyenas… LOCUSTS!
Locusting! 😮 Sorry, bad, bad pun. 😛

I think that covers it. 🙂

M.I.K.E.

[granville1]

Everybody had their share of shitty lines in this turkey. Moreover, the screenplay was designed to rape the Sharon/Kitty Winn character. A sympathetic figure in the original novel and movie, in Heretic she is a sick, twisted witch-like bitch (note her costuming when she leads Lamont into the empty MacNeil house) who can’t stand Regan. Boorman’s trashing of the character includes a gratuitous shot of her breasts, as well as her final incineration. Unlike the Sharon we knew from the original novel and film, Boorman’s surrogate character was an unpleasant, throw-away prop from the get-go.

Boorman – who is on record as despising The Exorcist – vented much of that hatred by turning Blatty’s and Friedkin’s likeable characters into grotesque caricatures. Boorman wrought his revenge on Blatty’s finely-drawn characters and themes: The dignified Merrin under Boorman’s direction gets his beating heart pulled out of his chest, and performs what can only be called a comic-opera cliff-scaling exorcism. The steadfast Karras has been replaced with the pathological, sweating, head-up-the-ass self-centered Lamont. Ellen Burstyn is replaced by mad scientist Louise Fletcher. Painful non-comic relief is supplied by Ned Beatty’s wasted part as “Ecumenical Edwards”. Vulnerable, innocent Regan becomes Queen Locust. More vomit-inducing Boorman touches could be added, but those listed are sufficient. I view this film as utterly without merit and unredeemable, regardless of ekm’s exegesis – an effort in great part justified by the film’s awful incoherence.

[hatter76]

My Problem with Fletcher is the shitty lines they gave her through most of the movie

[granville1]

Yeah… “almost”!!

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