I saw this movie in theaters. I get a lot of flack because i don't like the original Exorcist movue, but im a horror fan, so when this sequel came to my local theater, i was excited to see it. I actually got to watch the movie "Open Water" on the same day. This movie was playing second, and it was late, so I got to watch this movie then walk home after dark. it was creepy but it was fun.I like scaring myself with a good old scary movie, and the past two I've watched have been a disappointment, so I'm returning to a movie I already know is good. plus with the new Exorcist movie in theaters, it's a good time to revisit this one. And away we go!
This movie is actually a prequel to the first Exorcist, not just a sequel, and it has a checkered past. It was made once, then the studio didn't like that version so they re-shot it and ended up with this movie, which got terrible reviews from a lot of horror fans, so of course I liked it because I can't ever just agree with the normal people. The events in this movie take place BEFORE the events of the first Exorcist. This movie tells the story of Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard) who is a former priest who's given up his vocation after being traumatized by the events he witnessed during the second world war. The atrocities committed by the nazis are indeed traumatizing, so I can empathize with Father Merrin losing his faith. Unfortunately for him, Satan isn't done with him yet. Now in his position as an archeologist, he travels to Kenya seeking some important ancient artifacts. Once there, he meets Sarah (Izabella Scorupco), a doctor who is also scarred from her experiences within the concentration camps. The neighboring village holds some kind of ancient evil lurking within its walls, and it's up to Father Merrin to stop it. Let's hope that God is not finished with him yet either!
I can empathize with anyone who loses their faith after witnessing something as horrible as the holocaust. I liked Father Merrin, and I liked Sarah too. I also liked Joseph, a young boy from the village who seems to always be at the center of the supernatural happenings in this movie. There's plenty of evidence of some kind of demonic activity: animals acting strangely, a desecrated holy place nearby, and a baby born dead and covered with maggots (ew). people called the gore in this movie gratuitous, but I don't see anything gratuitous about it. Not like Reagan MacNeil stabbing her vagina with a crucifix until blood shoots out of it like a squirt gun.
That one made me roll my eyes, so I was on the lookout for tasteless, unnecessary gore, and I didn't find any in this movie. In fact there's very little gore at all. The Exorcist movies have always been more about the quiet terror, scaring people with the threat of what may be hiding in the shadows, then the big, showy horror scenes. That's why the little girl spinning her head around backwards and spitting out pea soup stood out so much. They were the exception, not the rule of that movie. It's too bad that the spectacle is what most people remember from that movie, because it's the smaller, quieter moments of horror that I find actually effective. Seeing Reagan's sad, scarred little face at the end of the movie was more powerful than most of what came before. And in The Exorcist III, the scene that made me shriek with terror is just a shot of a person walking out of a room, that's all it took to make me scream, and it was so well done. This movie is supposed to tell the story of how Father Merrin got his faith back, a faith that was strong enough to make him do battle with a demon and be so sure of winning because he did it once before and won. That's the thing about this movie: we know Father Merrin is going to win because he was alive to be the main priest in the first Exorcist movie, we're just tuning in to watch him battle with his demons (both internal and external) so a lot of the mystery element is taken away and the movie has to stand on its own merits and be scary even though we know how it's going to end. For me, it works. I really liked this movie, both then and now.
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