I heard that this one is infact very scary but not as Scary as the original.

Oh yeah, and If you watched The E! True Hollywood Story called
"The Curse of the Exorcist" then you'd know that both versions of
The Begining will be released on dvd and the first cut will also be on cable along with the Harlin version.

Interesting interview with Stellan Skargard:

http://romanticmovies.about.com/od/e...orss081904.htm

Romanticmovies.about.com having an interview about the Exorcist? -screwy-

Yeah, if you like "boo!" scares. This film will be your CITIZEN KANE.

Like the other two sequels, if you like the original, don't waste your time with this one. Or at least wait to see what Schrader did with it.

Well at Rt so far its 1-4, with the fresh rating only being 7/10 and calling it Queen of the Damned 2004 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/exor...ning/?show=all

HMMmm. I never seen the original. I thought the movie had a lot of dirt. This movie had lots of setup without the punch. Lots of buildups that lead to nothing. I noticed a few guys afterwards admitted they were scared and a few ladies said they didn't watch most of the movie cause they were scared. My estimation isthe audience is closing their eyes because of the memories of the first. If the kept their eyes open, they might have seen there was nothing to be scared about.
I didn't see the "scary". I just saw a movie explaining certain items , how the Priest lost his Faith, regain the faith,and who liked to dig in dirt. It seemed liked i was watching a movie in history class. On the positive side , I didnt guess or see .

Honestly, I think it's more that the film is soooooooo loud and sound effect heavy.

"Hi, I'm Renny Harlin's Exorcist, and I SUCK!"

8% on RT right now, and I don't think it's getting better.

I would love to hear what the execs that took this from Schrader and gave it to Harlin have to say for themselves now. Unlike the WMD debacle, people will get fired over this and it'll be sweet.

http://www.joblo.com/exorcist-beginning.htm

"So let me get this straight...out of the two versions of this film that were shot over the past two years, THIS was the one that the studio thought was better and less "boring"? Wow...I can't even begin to imagine how lame Paul Schrader's version was, since this movie was about as enticing as the finger that my physician slipped up my bung-hole earlier today (don't ask)."



http://www.filmjerk.com/new/article-1011--0-0.html

"If Robinson wanted less talk, more scares, Harlin’s “Beginning” should delight the producer. But for an audience raised in genuine awe of William Friedkin’s 1973 classic, “The Exorcist,” “Beginning” is yet another slap in the face for this franchise, which seems obsessed with not comprehending what made Friedkin’s film such a gorgeous horror experience: nuance."

Got an awful review over at CNN.

I like the last line in the review:

"Someone please send for an exorcist to cast Harlin out of Hollywood."

The Schraeder version was apparently more of a thinker's film. This one has more gore and less thought.

The dumbing down of America continues.........(woo hoo)

from one of the many bad reviews:

"Playing fast and loose with its twists, Exorcist: The Beginning lacks anything resembling a narrative thread, jumping instead from one cheap shock to another. It doesn't take much wit for me to jump out of the bushes at you waving a bloody mutton chop, and Exorcist: The Beginning is the equivalent of that variety of obnoxious ass-clownery. It's a mercenary bit of manipulation undertaken by a hired gun that bears no relationship to art, no interest in depth--it's aberrant, derivative, and in its conclusion's startling resemblance to a Kiwanis Club haunted house, surprisingly dull: the one thing that it wasn't supposed to be anymore."

Oh boy, I'm going to see this tonight, but from the sounds of it I don't plan on expecting much.

I'm loving reading all these reviews; the review over at CHUD was particularly entertaining. I have no plans to see it as I refuse to contribute one dollar to a film that is so clearly a big, steaming pile of crap. Maybe if more people stop going to films like this, the studios will get the message that they need to put out quality product, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Which director finished Frankenheimer's version?

I think Frankenheimer died before he started shooting.


I am amused by the general assumption that the Schraeder film is some masterwork that was so good that it coulnd't be released to the masses because they're so stupid they couldn't grasp it....maybe it just sucked that bad and hiring Harlin was a step up? Devils advocate moment over...

I saw this flick, it was decent, its not a slasher - boo! kind of flick like we've been seeing lately (though it does have that in it). I dunno, I don't get all the vitriol thats being spewed....its not high art, but I've seen much worse at the theaters this year.

And I didn't see the final twist coming either.

Ill keep this short........WORST MOVIE EVER. No exageration, what a fucking joke. I got in free and Im still angry that movie wasted 2 hours of my life. The movie made no sense at all, horrible pointless cgi, plot holes galore, bad acting, bad everything. I wanted to leave 5 minutes in if that tells you somthing. Barely stayed true to the original dont pay to see this shit, sneak in,

I've seen worse, but i wouldn't mind having my two hours back. I generally go into movies not knowing much about them (less chance of disappointment that way), i figured this one would be a bit scary....ended up being very boring!

I actually thought the movie was pretty decent. While not the greatest movie I've ever seen, it's far from the worse. Unfortunatly I knew the ending because some people were being dicks while leaving the show before us <table border="0"><tr><td bgcolor="#000000"><font face="verdana" size="2" color="#000000">and yelling out loud the twist and everything</font></td></tr></table>. It didn't really detract from the movie, but it would have been nice to have that surprise left in it.

As far as scare factor, it wasn't scary at all to me. My wife got freaked a few times, and her friend was way wigged out, but to me it was about the same scare/gore factor as the newer Mummy series of movies. There were a few cringe worthy scenes.

All in all I thought it was a nice backstory for the little trinket that is found in the Exorcist. It's cool to get insight on the Merrin character. I'm looking forward to the DVD releases though because I want to see the other scrapped version. I'm guessing the original was "too difficult" for people to understand so opted for eye candy instead. I know more than a few people who don't even get the original Exorcist until all the posession scenes.

So was I happy I saw it, yes. Did I expect more, of course.... but with Hollywood's current horror history (for the past 10 years) I was pleased.

Now, when nickmondo1 said "WORST MOVIE EVER"... all I could think was.... No, that was the Village. ;)

:up:

2 questions:

- how the heck did that not get filtered?

- since this is a prequel, how could it stay true to the original when in the movie's timeline, it hasn't happened yet?

Haven't seen it by the way although a friend of mine said "think 'Fr. Merrin and the Temple of Doom'". Any truth to this?

5% at RT.com. Wow, should be a great Razzie's this year.

no matter what we all think of this new Exorcist, it will be the #1 movie in America for the weekend of Aug. 20-22.

Friday's numbers have
1. Exorcist: The Beginning - $ 7.1 million
2. Without A Paddle - $ 4.7 million

I can see that... that's better than my Mummy comparison. The demon reminded me of Smeigel (sp?) from the LOTR movies... some of the movement.

Man what a terrible movie. I so wanted this to be good. Not a single scary moment in the film. It probably has the record for the most fake jump moments in a film. The entire middle section of the movie is "scary music......more scary music.......it gets silent........*BAM* loud sound that isnt really anything". They havent figured out that gory doesnt equal scary.

Terrible movie.