History Film / ExorcistTheBeginning

This chapter of ''The Exorcist'' remains as one of the most bizarre [[TroubledProduction troubled productions]] in film history. Originally Creator/PaulSchrader was brought to direct a psychological horror movie in the vein of the original; he did his job and almost completed what was called ''Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist''. However, as the movie was being marketed, Morgan Creek Productions [[ExecutiveMeddling decided]] it was not scary enough to fit expectations, so they tossed the unfinished film to a vault and brought an entirely new director, Creator/RennyHarlin, to direct '''an entirely new movie'''. This was the final result, a retooling named ''Exorcist: The Beginning'' that only shared Skarsgard as the main role and the outlines of its plot. Only after it failed at critics and box office they allowed Schrader to finish and release his film, edging the previous in success and giving birth to the strange event of two films in one.

* AllThereInTheManual: In ''Dominion'', Merrin's encounter with the Nazis takes place in a Dutch village, and the woman that gives birth is the Turkana chief's wife. It is unclear if it's the same in ''The Beginning'' due to the exposition being cut.
* AmbiguouslyEvil: It is just as possible that ''all'' questionable behavior of the characters is a result of Pazuzu's influence, or that Pazuzu only amplifies tendencies that are already inside them.

* AteHisGun: After [[spoiler:Granville]] witnesses supernatural activity in his tent in the form of finding himself preparing a crow for his butterfly collection instead of a regular insect specimen, his collection coming to life and then having butterfly crawling out of his mouth, he puts his gun into his mouth and pulls the trigger.

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Merrin finds and opens an ancient tomb inside the church at the same time as a Turkana woman gives birth to a child. [[spoiler:The child is born dead.]]

* ActionizedSequel: ''Exorcist the Beginning'' is an actionized ''prequel'' to the 1973 horror classic, as well as an actionized ''remake/reshoot'' to Schrader's ''Dominion'', since it has a noticably faster pace, as well as an elaborate battle scene with a huge body count.

* HistoryRepeats: Under Pazuzu's influence, an army goes crazy and its members kill each other until nobody is left. 1500 years later, the same happens again.

!!''Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist'' contains examples of:
%%* AscendedToCarnivorism

* TheGrotesque: Cheche is creepily malformed.

%%* NoBudget

** Emekwi loses one son to hyenas and is willing to let the other be sacrificed to end the curse. He teary tells him he is sorry.

** In ''Dominion'', it is not clear if the demon is Pazuzu or [[PrinceOfDarkness someone else]], while in ''Beginning'' a lot of references are added to establish that it is indeed Pazuzu, as in the 1973 movie. Pazuzu may also be Lucifer if Father Francis is correct, though this is in line with the rest of the other movies in the franchise flip-flopping on wether Pazuzu is a devil or ''the'' Devil.

** [[spoiler:Jefferies]] develops larger and nastier looking pustules on his face as the movie goes on, with one appearing to have something crawling inside at one point. He is then attacked by an unseen force; the next morning, Merrin finds parts of his teeth in a pool of blood in his room, and his eviscerated body hanging in the church.

* AssholeVictim[=/=]DeathByMaterialism: Some British soldiers attempt to loot the church, and pop up dead the next day.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Sarah spends her last scenes in the movie completely barefoot.

This chapter of ''The Exorcist'' remains as one of the most bizarre [[TroubledProduction troubled productions]] in film history. Originally Creator/PaulSchrader was brought to direct a psychological horror movie in the vein of the original; he did his job and almost completed what was called ''Film/DominionPrequelToTheExorcist''. However, as the movie was being marketed, Morgan Creek Productions [[ExecutiveMeddling decided]] it was not scary enough to fit expectations, so they tossed the unfinished film to a vault and brought an entirely new director, Creator/RennyHarlin, to direct '''an entirely new movie'''. This was the final result, a retooling named ''Exorcist: The Beginning'' that only shared Skarsgard as the main role and the outlines of its plot. Only after it failed at critics and box office they allowed Schrader to finish and release his film, edging the previous in success and giving birth to the strange event of two films in one.

!!Tropes:

[[folder:A-G]]

[[folder:H-V]]

!!''Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist''

* AluminiumChristmasTrees: There is a real Turkana people. The region and the lake were named after them, not the other way around.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: The hyenas are striped hyenas (''H. hyaena'') rather than the more commonly depicted spotted hyena (''C. crocuta'').

''Exorcist: The Beginning'' is a 2004 ReligiousHorror film. As hinted by the StockSubtitle, it is a {{Prequel}} to the 1973 film ''Film/TheExorcist''.

* StockSubtitle: ''The Beginning'' is a typical subtitle for a prequel.

%%* AdultFear

* AdultFear:
** Emekwi loses one son to hyenas and is willing to let the other be sacrificed to end the curse. He teary tells him he is sorry.
** One of the Turkana women gives birth to a [[spoiler:dead child full of maggots.]]

->''"That after the War in Heaven, this is the spot where {{Lucifer}} fell."''

* NotSoDifferent: Under Pazuzu's influence, the Turkana and the British go to war against each other and end massacring the people on their own side until no one is left alive.

%%* NotSoDifferent

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Bession, the original head archaeologist, was institutionalized after becoming th first man to enter the church in 1500 years.

* EnlightenedAntagonist: The imagery of Pazuzu's final form definitely intends to evoke this trope, along with some oriental overtones to give it exotic flavour. After taking over [[spoiler:Cheche]]'s body, the normally rageful demon takes ascetic, even Buddhic attributes, turning into a moderately creepy bald man dressed in a simple white loincloth and seated in a levitating meditation posture.

* WeirdHistoricalWar: Merrin lost his faith during World War II; while there no direct equivalent to the British-Turkana conflict, it can be seen as a precedent to the Mau Mau Uprising (1952-1960).

%%* {{Adorkable}}

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Major Granville.]]

* {{Adorkable}}
* AdultFear
* AscendedToCarnivorism

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment
* BirthDeathJuxtaposition
* CanonDiscontinuity

* EasilyForgiven

* NoBudget
* NotSoDifferent
* PreventTheWar
* ScrewedByTheNetwork
* TheSmurfettePrinciple
* SpecialEffectsFailure

* WarIsHell
* WeAreStrugglingTogether
* WeirdHistoricalWar
* WouldHurtAChild
* TheVirus

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler:Near the end of the film, Sarah is brought back from her exorcism and she's the only character left besides Merrin and Joseph. In any other film she would probably adopt Joseph and form a family with Merrin, but we can't have that because this is a prequel to ''The Exorcist'' and Merrin must become a priest again. Therefore she's suddenly revealed to have a fatal head wound from her fall on the cave floor and dies in Merrin's arms instead.]]
* SymbologyResearchFailure
* ThoseWackyNazis
* {{Troll}}
* UnresolvedSexualTension
* VindicatedByCable

** In ''Dominion'', it is not clear if the demon is Pazuzu or [[PrinceOfDarkness someone else]], while in ''Beginning'' a lot of references are added to establish that it is indeed Pazuzu, as in the 1973 movie. Pazuzu may also be Lucifer if Father Francis is correct, though this is in line with the rest of the other franchise flip-flopping on wether Pazuzu is a devil or ''the'' Devil.

* StuffedIntoTheFridge

* Adorkable

%%* SequelEscalation

* SirSwearsALot
* TheSmurfettePrinciple
* SoleSurvivor
* SpecialEffectsFailure

* StreetUrchin

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks

[[quoteright:255:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/exorcist_the_beginning_movie_0.jpg]]

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Bession, the original head archaeologist and first man to enter the church in 1500 years (that we know) went mad and had to be institutionalized.

* RedHerring
* ReligionOfEvil
* ReligiousHorror
* TheReveal

* SealedEvilInACan
* SeldomSeenSpecies
* SequelEscalation
* ShootTheShaggyDog: There's a lot of characters and many of them end up having very little or practically no effect on the main plot, but unlike the ''Dominion'', practically all of them end up getting killed in the most gruesome ways possible.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain
* NoPeriodsPeriod
* NotHimself
* NotSoDifferent
* PapaWolf
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain
* {{Prequel}}
* RaisingTheSteaks