EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING

After the Second World War, Father Merrin's faith wavers following the terrible memories of the war in Holland. A passionate archaeologist, Merrin travels to a mysterious Byzantine church (in Kenya) in search of an ancient relic. In the village, the priest encounters a child presumably possessed by a malevolent entity and confronts for the first time the demon Pazuzu, thus managing to recover his lost faith. Fourth chapter of the saga based on the novel by William Peter Blatty (who was also the screenwriter of the epic "The Exorcist" directed by William Friedkin), "The Exorcist - The Genesis" (the beginning) represents the prequel of the cult film that shook the cinematic world in 1973. More than thirty years later, the story of Father Merrin is revealed to the public, who will long battle with the evil to find faith through exorcism. Mediocrely directed by Renny Harlin ("Drive", "Pirates"), the film has completely lost the diabolical atmosphere (where the presence of evil was tangible) that was felt in the first episode, limiting itself to entertaining the public with digital special effects and bloody scenes (children populated by worms, eyes torn from their sockets and other things of this kind can be seen). The satanic iconography is not absent (inverted crosses, bats, crows, phrases in Aramaic..) but it is not enough to frighten the viewer. The screenplay by Alew Hawley is also unconvincing, showing many hesitations in the construction of the story, so the film seems enormously confused. The film completely falls apart in the inconceivable ending where Father Merrin faces a character possessed by the demon, totally asthmatic, who reminds too much of the demonized but exceptional Linda Blair of the first "Exorcist". The Finnish Harlin was tasked with filming the movie after the tragic death of director John Frankenheimer (who died a few days before filming) and the firing of Paul Schrader, dismissed without too many manners by the production for the absence of gruesome and bloody scenes in the film. Schrader's version will probably be present in the upcoming DVD, allowing the public to compare the two productions and evaluate the changes made. The presence of the Demon in cinema no longer scares like before: it is probably the way this theme is treated, in a totally superficial and "commercial" manner, but it no longer manages to transmit the chills and unease typical of its illustrious predecessor. What will future horror directors have to invent to stimulate their audience? The times of the fabulous "Rosemary's Baby", "The Exorcist" or "The Omen" seem now distant. Curiosity: In "The Exorcist the Genesis" the character of Sarah, played by the actress Izabella Scorupco, adopts movements and postures very similar to the mythical demons seen in "The Evil Dead" by Sam Raimi.