Paul Schraders Exorcist - The first review

Our colleagues from BloodyNews now had the chance to watch "Paul Schrader's Exorcist: The Original Prequel". And it looks like Schrader's movie is much better than Harlin's version. But read for yourself.

Here are a few clips from the review:

By now, most of you have seen the  opening sequence of the film, the Sophie’s Choice-style predicament in which Father Merrin (Stellan Skarsgard) is forced to condemn ten innocent Dutch villagers to Nazi gunfire. It’s a powerful scene, one that carries a hundred times more weight than the abbreviated version from Harlin’s film. In Schrader’s hands, much of the scene’s strength lies in the slow build-up of tension, a style that dominates the rest of the picture.

The sequence in question was of little consequence in Harlin’s film, skipping straight ahead to the gore rather than focusing on the hopelessness of the situation and the realization of what Merrin will be forced to do. The difference between these two versions of the same plot point are indicative of how very different the films are from one another, as well as the fact that Morgan Creek were never looking for anything more than an exploitation piece. Their claims to the contrary seem groundless at this point.

A major example is the character of Merrin, who became a swashbuckling hero in Harlin’s film rather than the tormented man we see in Schrader’s version. The performances couldn’t be more different. Here, Merrin is presented as a man tormented by inner demons, who has fled to Africa to unearth the past lives of others because he can’t deal to dig up his own. He has been betrayed by his God, and lives in a state of perpetual liminality that he simultaneously hates and fears to be free of. This isn’t Indiana Jones with a crucifix, as he would later become during the remake. Stellan Skarsgard seems more comfortable with this incarnation of Merrin, and does more with his eyes than with all the lines of dialogue in Harlin’s film put together.

You can read the whole review here.

Source: BloodyNews