Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist

Right up front I should probably admit I'm not a fan of these types of movies, it's not that I find them confronting or upsetting but if I were to be truly honest with the exception of Richard Donner's The Omen I find these sort of supernatural / occult thrillers to be pretty silly and that includes the first two Exorcist films, I did see the third film when it was first released on VHS to rent and seem to remember liking it but if asked I couldn't tell you much about it.

I was always curious about seeing Dominion, not because it was a prequel to The Exorcist but because of it's place in film history, Paul Schrader was hired to a prequel to The Exorcist and if memory serves me correctly there was to be no gimmicks like spinning heads and little girls vomiting green pea soup but as the film was nearing completion the producers saw a rough edit of the movie and hated it, the decision was made to bring in Renny Harlin to virtually remake the movie from scratch with the idea of making a much more commercial film, I've only ever seen the first half or Harlin's movie so I can't fairly compare the two movies.

Eventually Dominion was screened at a number of film festivals and received an eventual DVD release and while I have to say the quality of the print used to master the DVD was disappointing with evidence of dirt and some scratches which is pretty shocking for a recently made film I rather enjoyed the actual movie.

Basically Paul Schrader wasn't going to make a traditional horror movie and he was open about it, the movie's producer knew that and at the last moment he changed his mind about the type of movie he wanted to make, it seems odd to me that Morgan Creek were ever interested in producing a movie that was so stylistically different to the other Exorcist movies to begin with but at great expense he went about trying to create a movie that was more appealing to traditional horror fans than Schrader's movie.

What Paul Schrader delivered was a thoughtful movie with well realised characters, the kind of characterisation you almost never see in a Hollywood produced horror movie or indeed in most recent Hollywood productions in general, add to the fact there is virtually no gore or action and I can see why the powers that be at Morgan Creek were worried that the movie might not find it's intended audience but what I can tell you is I enjoyed the movie, the ending was a little weak ( but not silly like most similar themed films ), it was a joy to watch a movie where characterisation mattered over jump cuts, CGI and buckets of blood.

I'm sure Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist isn't to every ones taste but I think it's well worth checking out if you get the chance.