Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (Film Review)

2005 Warner Bros.
Directed by: Paul Schrader; Written by: William Wisher and Caleb Carr
Starring: Stellan Skarsgård, Gabriel Mann, Clara Bellar, and Billy Crawford
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 116 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 3/10

Father Merrin has lost his faith. In the 1970s, he might be the iconic figure who stands under the streetlight outside Regan MacNeil's apartment, but in the late 1940s, he's a broken man. He hasn't been able to make sense of life since the Nazi's visited his Dutch village earlier in the decade and forced him to choose victims for them, lest the entire population be murdered. Now, instead of spiritual evil, Merrin only sees the evil in the hearts of the men around him. He's found a way to avoid most people altogether, by partaking in archaeological digs in far-flung locations. However, when he discovers a pristine church far beneath the African desert, farther South than it ever should have been built for its ancient construction, he soon finds himself dealing with a young and eager, faithful priest, a nosy, but well-intentioned female doctor, and a unit of British soldiers who seem itching for a fight with the African natives. All this would be tolerable, were it not for one thing: the ancient church was built to trap an ancient and powerful evil...and now that evil has been released.
2005's Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist is an absolute mess. On paper, Paul Schrader is actually an inspired choice to direct an Exorcist film. A man of faith completely unafraid to tackle life's most difficult questions, Shrader may not be known as a genre filmmaker, but if there was any series that seemed ripe for his exploration, it's this one. Unfortunately, the studio had issues with his work, replaced him with the director of Cutthroat Island, and the resultant film, 2004's Exorcist: The Beginning, was a flop with critics and audiences alike. Schrader then had the miraculous chance to deliver his original version of the film, clumsily titled by the studio, but it seems this material would just better off be left alone.
The clunkiness starts at the beginning, from the non-starter brutal opening Nazi sequence, which then, with a tonal abruptness, segues into Merrin's archaeological adventures. Stellan Skarsgård does his best with the Merrin character as written here, but the first, perfect (and only good film in the series) Exorcist film already dealt with a priest who'd lost his faith, and this beat feels like a weak, ill-thought retread. The film tries to further the "man is evil without the demons" themes by having the British soldiers treat the local Africans like the Nazis did the Jews at the start of the film, but Dominion, despite Shrader at the helm, isn't equipped to deal with such lofty moral matters, and the tone bounces around like someone falling down the stairs.
When the actual demon possession occurs, the film is even more ill-equipped to deal with its material, as the scenes are downright goofy, featuring cheesy makeup, effects, and staging. These moments are absolutely laughable, and scenes where Merrin must find his faith to battle the darkness that should hit hard are instead clumsy and silly. With that said, Dominion is WEIRD like the second film, features the same theme of regained faith as the first film, and some of the monologuing of the third, so there is some attempt at bringing the whole series together her. A better idea, though, would be to just leave this shouldn't be franchise alone.