History YMMV / ExorcistTheBeginning

* {{Narm}}: The scene where the Major Granville starts hallucinating that his butterfly collection has come to life, so his response is to... [[StopOrIShootMyself put a gun against his head]]... an act which then apparently calms the tiny butterflies down and they gradually stop flapping their wings in response as though intimidated. The viewer almost expects to hear the Major threaten during the scene: "Okay, butterfly collection. Stop coming to life or the Major gets it! You hear me? Quit it! Cut it out!" And the butterflies meekly complying "Okayyy..."

** The Turkana region being the place where Lucifer fell and evil presumably started... is also a region of Earth with some of the oldest hominid fossils.

* EvilIsSexy: The demon choosing to possess and make [[spoiler:Sarah]] strip in front of Merrin comes across as this. The line doesn't help either.
--> '''Pazuzu:''' What's the matter, Merrin? Don't you want to fuck me anymore?

* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Criticism at the time of release was largely a lament for the studio not having faith in Shrader's 'psychological' treatment and retooling it into a typical bloody, JumpScare-y, fast paced CGI-heavy horror film of TheNoughties ''and also'' for its collection of elements taken from the 1973 film (e.g. the final possession and exorcism) that felt forced and were not as a strong as their original counterparts anyway.

* ItIsTheSameNowItSucks: Criticism at the time of release was largely a lament for the studio not having faith in Shrader's 'psychological' treatment and retooling it into a typical bloody, JumpScare-y, fast paced CGI-heavy horror film of TheNoughties ''and also'' for its collection of elements taken from the 1973 film (e.g. the final possession and exorcism) that felt forced and were not as a strong as their original counterparts anyway.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: Any discussion into this film will immediately bring up the obvious CGI hyenas, flies, crows, and backgrounds of Cairo and the Vatican. Averted with the church and other buildings in Derati, which are also largely CGI but more successfully concealed.
* WTHCastingAgency: Every patient at the mental asylum in Nairobi is white, which has several implications and none is nice.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Blatty and the critics said that it was this when compared with ''Film/ExorcistIITheHeretic'' and ''The Beginning''.
* WTHCastingAgency: Filipino Billy Crawford as Cheche, [[FakeNationality a Kenyan]]. The makeup is good enough to make him appear first emaciated and then possessed, but no attempt is made to make him look ''black'', yet everyone treats him as a local.

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: A probable impression given that, among all the ''Exorcist'' films, this is probably the most philosophically pretentious and the one that tries the hardest to be artsy.

* {{Narm}}: The scene where the Major Granville starts hallucinating that his butterfly collection has come to life, so his response is to... [[StopOrIShootMyself put a gun against his head]]... an act which then apparently calms the tiny butterflies down and they gradually stop flapping their wings in response as though intimidated. The viewer almost expects to hear the Major threaten during the scene: "Okay, butterfly collection. Stop coming to life or the Major gets it! You hear me? Quit it!" And the butterflies meekly complying "Okayyy..."

* {{Narm}}: The scene where the Major Granville starts hallucinating that his butterfly collection has come to life, so his response is to... [[StopOrIShootMyself put a gun against his head]]... an act which then apparently calms the butterflies down and they gradually stop flapping their wings in response. The viewer almost expects to hear the Major say during the scene: "Okay, butterfly collection. Stop coming to life or the Major gets it!" And the butterflies meekly complying "Okayyy..."

* EvilIsSexy[=/=]FoeYay: The demon choosing to possess and make [[spoiler:Sarah]] strip in front of Merrin comes across as this. The line doesn't help either.