Product Details

• Actors: Stellan Skarsgård, Gabriel Mann, Clara Bellar, Billy Crawford (II), Ralph Brown
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: October 25, 2005
• Run Time: 117 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000AYEL4W
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,027 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Dominion - Prequel to the Exorcist" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

THE ORIGINAL PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "I Am Perfection!" ~ The War Begins, October 23, 2005

By 

Brian E. Erland "Rainbow Sphinx" (Brea, CA - USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dominion - Prequel to the Exorcist (DVD)

Finally director Paul Schrader's version has been removed from its purgatorial storage and released on DVD! Now the fans can judge for themselves which adaptation they prefer, Schrader's or Harlin's. After seeing them both I will say without hesitation, Paul Schrader's orginal treatment is definitely the superior of the two.

Having two different versions of the prequel to 'The Exorcist' availabe on DVD is indeed a rare and wonderful treat. Viewing the two and comparing the merits of both is much like comparing the Reginald Owen's version of 'A Christmas Carol' with the Alastair Sim's adaptation. Each contains material left out of the other and only by viewing both do you seem to get the truly complete, unedited version. To fully appreciate the depth and soul of 'The Exorcist' legacy you simply have to watch them both.

For me the deciding factor in choosing the Schrader version over the Harlin production came around the last half hour of the film when Cheche, now fully possessed by the spirit of Lucifer floats above his demonic throne in the subteranean cavern below the recently unearthed Church of Saint Michael the Archangel. Truly a moment meant to give credence to the most famous and revered occult saying, "As Above, So Below."

The ensuing dialogue between the fallen angel and the priest adds a much deeper, personal dimension to the confrontation of Good and Evil that is missing in Harlin's film. This one-on-one exchange made the difference in my opinion. As always the subjective nature of reviewing comes down to personal choice. I invite you to view both and decide for yourself.

Stellan Skarsgard is brilliant as Father Merrin, the disillusioned priest who must overcome his deep seated doubts about the existence of God and supernatural evil. He is fast becoming one of my favorite actors. Gabriel Mann also gives a fine performance as the young, devote Father Francis, as does Clara Bellar as Dr. Rachel Lesno. Of course lets not forget the performance of Billy Crawford as Cheche, the crippled young man possessed by the "Powers of Darkness."

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 stars for Schrader's flawed vision, October 30, 2005

By 

WTDK "If at first the idea is not absurd, the... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dominion - Prequel to the Exorcist (DVD)

The central premise and the basic plot of "Dominion" and "The Beginning" are the same what's different is the stylized look of the film and the direction by someone who came into directing from a writer's point of view and a director who came into film direction strictly based on the visual angle. It's a pity that the original director John Frankenheimer ("Seconds", "The Manchurian Candidate", "The French Connection II", "Seven Days in May" "Ronion") had to step down for health reasons (he withdrew from the project and died in 2002)as his visual sense would have complimented the film's screenplay by novelist Calbe Carr (The Alienist) and screenwriter William Wisher ("Terminator 2" and "The 13th Warrior").

The two films, if they were combined (some of Harlin's startling visuals, the script from Schrader's version and the languid style of that film as well)would be an exceptional film in this underperforming series (only "The Exorcist" is a five star classic, "Legion" deserves 3 1/2 stars only because of how Blatty's film was butchered during the re-editing process. It went through much the same rethink process as "Dominion" although the same director stayed throughout).

Many of the visual effects look a bit cheesy with the Aurora Boralis effect at the conclusion looking like it was done on a computer from the early 90'ss. The hyenas just aren't convincing looking for much of the film and it does rob the film of some suspense. "Dominion" is a suspense thriller dealing with the issues of faith and the power of evil to squash humanity. The film also feels a bit choppy at times particularly as it rushes towards its conclusion as if Schrader ran out of time and dropped scenes from the script to meet his shooting schedule (I don't recall him mentioning that in the commentary but do know that things were tight). The startling scares are in Harlin's film while the sense of dread that dominates Schrader's film creates a moody suspense thriller. Some of the performances are truly outstanding while others such as Gabriel Mann as Father Francis are a bit stiff (he's replaced by James D'Arcy who gives a much better performance in Harlin's film). While Clara Bellar does a solid job in the role of Rachel, I preferred Izabella Scorupco in her similar role as Sarah).

Both versions have their merits but I felt the screenplay was better written and less gimmicky for Schrader's film. It also tied in better with "The Exorcist". Stellan Skarsgård was exceptional in both as Father Merrin. The major change has to do when Merrin becomes involved with the dig, what happened at the site before (which is graphically illustrated by Harlin's version in a startling CGI sequence involving a major battle) and the way the story unfolds. Despite it's flaws, Schrader's film is the better of the two but it's not a horror movie like "The Exorcist" or even "The Texas Chainsaw Masacre".

The transfer of "Dominion" doesn't look quite as sharp as that of "The Beginning" and there's quite a few specks (which really surprised me in this day and age of top notch digital transfers of recent films)but otherwise the color looks extremely good and the overall sharpness and audio is very good as well. Schrader's ruminates in his commentary track on everything from the low budget and the cheesy CGI effects he had to settle for to the working conditions during shooting.

Neither one is as scary as "The Exorcist" and if Harlin's film is a slicker bit of entertainment, it also lacks some of the substance of this film. I'd suggest a rental for "Dominion". "Dominion" works better as a suspense thriller than "The Exorcist: The Beginning" worked as a horror film.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Better Beginning, January 14, 2006

By 

Ghoulie Guru - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dominion - Prequel to the Exorcist (DVD)

WARNING: possible spoilers ahead...

Every employee at Morgan Creek should be taken out into the courtyard and flogged for burying this movie and letting Renny Harlin unleash his worthless Exorcist prequel on the world in its place. There are certain ideas and concepts that are just meant to be movies, and doing a prequel to the Exorcist is one of them. I really can't understand how anyone could possibly screw up the story. Even Michael Bay should have been able to make a good Exorcist prequel. But Renny Harlin did the impossible, he made a bad Exorcist movie and all the while they had Paul Schrader's version hidden away in a closet.

Now, this is not a great movie, and it doesn't live up to its full potential, but it's not as much of a crime against nature as the version that was released theatrically. If the producers had actually supported Schrader and helped him trim this movie down a bit, we might have had the prequel we were all hoping for.

For anyone who doesn't know the saga of the Exorcist prequel, I will give you the Cliff Notes version. Warner Brothers and Morgan Creek decided to make a prequel to the Exorcist that would basically be the story of a young Father Merrin and how he came to be the Exorcist. Yes, I thought to myself when reading about this... good idea, finally. They hired Caleb Carr, a novelist best known for his book the Alienist, and Paul Schrader a director who's best known for writing Taxi Driver. Okay, now I was starting to get excited. Paul went and shot his movie, but ran into problems when he screened the movie for Morgan Creek and the big brains decided that it was too long and not scary. Caleb Carr started screaming that Schrader was destroying his words. They fired Paul Schrader and brought Renny Harlin in. Renny reshot 90% of the movie and put his hack fingerprints all over it. That was the version that was released theatrically with a pretty dismal box office response.

Meanwhile, Paul Schrader's version languished on the shelf until recently. This movie follows the same basic premise as the Renny Harlin version. Father Merrin suffers a crisis of faith after being forced to watch as Nazis massacre an entire village. He's in Africa and he discovers an entire church that has been buried in the desert. But while the plotline is basically the same, the two movies couldn't be more different. In Schrader's film, Merrin is a tortured man who's struggling with complex issues of faith. In Renny Harlin's film, Father Merrin is more of swashbuckling archeologist like Indiana Jones. That's basically the difference between the two movies. One is a drama, and one is an adventure.

The problem is that neither film is really a horror film. Schrader's film, while certainly more brooding and esoteric, is not that frightening. The possessed boy in DOMINION is nowhere near as scary as Regan was. That might be because there isn't really any identifiable threat in the movie. We all know that Father Merrin is going to survive whatever hellish experience he goes through, because he shows up in the later movie. So, since we know our main character is going to live, there's not a lot of peril in the movie. We are able to disengage from it and never really feel frightened or worried that Father Merrin might not make it out of this experience alive. This is a flaw that should have been handled in the concept stage. This is not a fault that can be pinned on Paul Schrader. In fact, I think Schrader did everything he could with the material he was given. It's still a flawed concept, and the producers obviously didn't give Schrader any money for CG because the hyenas in this movie look like they came right out of a video game. That's the only reason that I didn't give this movie a higher score, and it has nothing to do with Schrader or his direction. It has everything to do with a poorly conceived concept and a lack of care on the part of the producers.

The saddest thing about the Saga of the Exorcist Prequel is that Morgan Creek and Warner Brothers missed a great opportunity and we, the horror fans, are the ones who suffer for it. This movie is definitely worth a rental if you are a fan of the Exorcist series, and if you felt betrayed by Renny Harlin's movie. This will ease the sting just a little bit for you. I don't know if I can recommend adding this movie to your collection, because it still has some problems. Despite the fact that none of the fault can be pinned on Paul Schrader, this movie still ends up getting a C+ in my grade book. It's better than Renny Harlin's, but still not as great as it could have been if the producers had stood behind Paul Schrader from the beginning.