Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist

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Dominion: Prequel To The Exorcist
Directed by Paul Schrader
Produced by James G. Robinson
Written by William Wisher Jr.
Caleb Carr
Starring Stellan Skarsgård
Gabriel Mann
Clara Bellar
Billy Crawford
Music by Angelo Badalamenti
Dog Fashion Disco
Trevor Rabin
Cinematography Vittorio Storaro
Editing by Tim Silano
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) May 20, 2005
Running time 117 min.
Language English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist is a 2005 horror / thriller film directed by Paul Schrader.

This is the original version of the third sequel to "The Exorcist". The film was basically completed, and then shelved by Morgan Creek. Renny Harlin replaced Schrader as the director of Exorcist: The Beginning and a new film was made, using the same plot and much of the same footage, attempting to make it more of a horror story. After the poor response to the second (Harlin's) version, Morgan Creek allowed Schrader's original version of the film to be released under the title Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.

The basic premise is similar to the theatrically released Exorcist: The Beginning, but the approach and the plot are different. The mood is more thoughtful, and the direction is less action-film oriented.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The young Father Lankester Merrin (played by Skarsgård, who played the same part in the 2004 prequel) travels to East Africa. He intends to rebuild his faith, which had faltered after witnessing some of the atrocities of World War II.

He meets up with a team of archaeologists, who are seeking to unearth a church that they believe has been buried for centuries. Merrin helps them, and the ensuing events result in an encounter with Pazuzu, the demon who would return in The Exorcist.

  • While Exorcist II: The Heretic showed Merrin's African exorcism in flashbacks, neither the Schrader film or the Harlin film use or refer to that version of the story.
  • Paul's son Sam suggested Dog Fashion Disco do the score for the last 20 minutes of the movie. They also composed the end credit song entitled, "Satan's March", which was the first time that the band created a song based around a cello part, an element which re-appeared on their 2006 album "Adultery".
  • This is the first Warner Bros. film to have an original (but scrapped) version of a sequel / prequel to be released ( Warner Bros is only the distributor of this film, though; Morgan Creek financed this film). The next film to have the same treatment was Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, only to be a straight-to-DVD release. That film was released on November 28, 2006.
  • Paul Schrader was only given $2 million to finish visual effects and post-production(which explains the shoddy CG and inconsistent audio quality).[1]
  • Liam Neeson was cast first when John Frankenheimer was the director but due to scheduling conflicts Liam had to step down as Father Merrin before Paul Schrader was hired to direct the film.

[edit] Cast

[edit] See also

[edit] External links