Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist

Paul Schrader's version of the prequel to William Friedkin's classic horror film is a movie that I find myself honestly wanting to like because it takes its idea's, particularly those in relation to the nature of God and evil, seriously. In fact, its focus is so centered on its ideas that one might have trouble even calling this a horror film. There are few elements that are distinctly "horror", and it's not particularly scarey -- even the exorcism itself is relegated as a minor climax in the final 15 minutes of the film. No, the film is more concerned with the testing of the faith of Father Merrin (Max von Sydow's character from the original film). The opening scene, perhaps the best in the film, pits the young priest in WWII era Holland against against a platoon of Nazi soldiers who ask him to chose a member of his congregation to be killed and made example of. Merrin refuses and the Nazi gets upset and next asks him to chose 10 people to be killed or else he will kill the entire congregation. I won't say what happens, but this event leaves Merrin to consider the nature of evil and whether God's grace has any place in a world that produces the likes of the Nazi's. Is evil a real force or is it man-made? Later Merrin finds himself at an African archeological site of a buried church and he has all but abandoned his faith. But as the evil that surrounds the chuch begins to brew, the native tribes and the stationed British soldiers become plagued and history begins to repeat itself. A sick, crippled boy slowly begins exhibiting signs of possession, but the more possessed he becomes, the more healthy and able-bodied he becomes, and Merrin must again confront the reality of God and evil. In terms of its spiritual ideas, this is probably the best horror film since Friedkin's. And while a respect Schrader's direction of the story by intentionally subverting the "goods" of the horror genre, it is ultimately too unspectacular to be a genuinely enjoyable movie experience. Even the cinematography by the great Vittorio Storaro is surprisingly bland. Stellan Skarsgard is good as Merrin, and Schrader remains one of the most religiously challenging filmmakers around, but ultimately this is a rewarding film, not a great one.