Editorials
A Tale of Two ‘Exorcist’ Prequels; Which One is Better?
The franchise that followed the original The Exorcist was always an unusual one. The second film was critically panned upon release and hasn’t fared much better in the intervening years. The third entry was more effective and frightening, but it was only tangentially related to the original film. One of the most interesting entries of the series, a spin-off film called The Ninth Configuration, which followed a minor character from the original, isn’t usually even considered a genuine part of the series.
And then, of course, there is the prequel. Or, more appropriately, the prequels. How did they come about, what went wrong, why are there two of them, and which is ultimately the superior film?
Let’s take a look at Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist and Exorcist: The Beginning.
William Wisher Jr., co-writer of the first two Terminator films, was originally asked to come up with a new story for the Exorcist franchise; his reaction to that request, in the interview book The Anatomy of Fear: Conversations with Cult Horror and Science Fiction Filmmakers (written by Kathleen Fernandez-Vander Kaay and myself), was to say, “Not only do I NOT want to do that, I don’t think the world needs another one of those.”
He changed his mind, however, after a small mention from the first film popped into his head. Describing a plot point about The Exorcist, Wisher said, “In the original book and 1973 film, the Church calls Merrin because he’s the only guy they can find who has previously performed one of those things. And I went, ‘that’s the story’; it’s 1946 in Africa, he’s just come out from the Second World War, and like fifty million people died – it’s easy to set up that he’s lost his faith in God, and he goes to this village because he’s running away. And he meets this poor child, and in helping him, and fighting the devil, and facing his own demons, he gets his faith back.”
Armed with that idea, he wrote the script, and a seemingly brilliant package was formed when writer/director Paul Schrader signed on to direct the film. A smart writer creating back story based on elements from the original film, all brought to the screen by an iconic director. What could go wrong?
“That was the weirdest project I have ever been involved with in my life, and it’s a heart breaker,” Wisher said, referring to the very strange and oddly public trouble the film went through. That trouble started when James Robinson, owner of Morgan Creek (the studio that financed the film), saw the cut of Paul Schrader’s film Dominion and said outright that he wasn’t going to release it. However, because the intellectual property was valuable, they weren’t just going to shelve the movie. So the company made other plans.
“They made two movies out of that movie,” Wisher said, “and Paul Schrader directed the movie that I wrote, shot it, edited it. Finished it. But that movie got shelved and Renny Harlin was hired. Jim Robinson didn’t like Schrader’s movie of my script, he said it wasn’t enough of a horror film.”
Thus began the production of the second film, helmed by Harlin, with a new script by Alexi Hawley that strangely contained nearly every single beat and plot point of the Schrader and Wisher version. Wisher described watching the new version as “one of the oddest experiences in my life. Like they had taken the script, broken it into 3×5 cards, threw them in the air, mixed them with a bunch of new cards from some other writer, then stuck them back together in random order and shot that.”
When Harlin’s film was completed and released as Exorcist: The Beginning, it did not find favor with audiences or critics. It was dismissed as a bundle of half-hearted jump scares and awkward action sequences strung together with passing nods to the original film in the series but little else to distinguish itself. Mainstream audiences weren’t interested in seeing it, and horror aficionados were insulted by its lack of ambition. It made its budget back but barely broke even after advertising, and the film currently has an 11% freshness rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
The production company saw that perhaps there was a silver lining to the problematic public issues the film suffered from; the moviegoing public already knew there was another, fully completed version of the film, so why not release that one as well? Dominion finally saw the light of day as a DVD release, and possibly for the first time in history, two distinct versions of the same story made around the same time, produced by the same company but from different filmmakers, were both commercially available.
Dominion was by no means a huge success, either. Even ignoring the fact that it premiered on DVD and therefore would not make as much money, the film itself suffered from pacing issues, questionable special effects, and an overall feeling of a lack of investment in the subject matter. Though the spiritual and psychological aspects were more pronounced in the Schrader version, the filmmaking itself left something to be desired.
So which film is the superior film? “I prefer the quiet, emotionally disturbing nature of the first one we made, over the overt horror story they finally released,” said Wisher, perhaps unsurprisingly. He did note something interesting, however, regarding his struggles with James Robinson about the nature of the film itself: “I kept telling him The Exorcist wasn’t a horror film. It was a disturbing film. It’s a slow, cold, creepy, terrifying thing, but it’s ultimately about faith and God.”
Neither of the films were particularly well-received, so it wasn’t as if audiences flocked to the Schrader version as the superior movie upon its DVD release. Perhaps the reason for the financial failure of both prequels can be addressed by the absence of what made the 1973 film such a success.
Paul Schrader has always been a smart and engaged writer and director, and his Calvinist religious upbringing led to him creating some excellent filmic observations of the struggle of faith, from the script for The Last Temptation of Christ to Touch. Almost all his films deal in some way with man’s struggle against his own base desires, and his scripts for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull were made into epic classic films. He has not, however, always had a flare for visual storytelling, often directing films with a cool distance and stillness.
Renny Harlin, on the other hand, has a visual flourish that nearly always comes through, no matter the subject matter or budget. From A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master to Die Hard 2 to The Long Kiss Goodnight, Harlin has delivered films whose imagery and fluid movement are always impressive. He has not, however, had to tackle something as heady, reverent, and emotionally devastating as The Exorcist, and that isn’t exactly his forte. Both versions of the prequel to The Exorcist were lacking in aspects because each was missing the half that the other was better at; that is why the original film will always be remembered and revered.
William Peter Blatty, the writer of the book and the original film, was the smart, passionate man of faith that brought the story to vivid emotional life. William Friedkin, the director of the original, was one of the most skilled and daring visual storytellers of his day, a risk-taker who formed a surprising but strong bond with Blatty to create one of the most iconic works in film history. If nothing else, the dueling versions of the Exorcist prequel, and their lack of connection to a wide audience, remind us how difficult it is to find a pairing like the original’s.
2023 was a tumultuous year for television, but amid the turmoil was some standout horror programming that celebrates the genre’s versatility, from “The Fall of the House of Usher” to “Swarm.”
The television landscape grows increasingly proliferated as streaming services continue to spawn and transform like hordes of zombies. There have never been more places to consume content, which in itself can be both exciting and overwhelming for audiences. Horror has been warmly embraced by television and the prospect of a graphic genre program is no longer the gambit that it used to be. Programming from across the world collectively taps into the universal fears that get under the audience’s skin, many of which become even more intense through extended binge-watch sessions. There’s something for everyone when it comes to 2023’s eclectic horror series, whether it’s killer dolls in the White House, inspired reimaginings of Edgar Allan Poe, or resurrected exorcists fighting against an apocalypse.
Here are the 10 best horror TV series of 2023.
Slasher: Ripper, Season 5
Slasher is a seasonal anthology series that’s hacked and slashed its way across three separate networks until it’s found a consistent home as a Shudder original. Slasher is far from perfect, but the extreme gore and creative kills that consume each season make it worthy of including at the tail end of the year’s best horror television. Each Slasher season presents a new masked murderer who wreaks havoc through different genre staples. Slasher: Flesh & Blood, the series’ fourth season, was a high point for the horror anthology. That being said, there’s still plenty to admire in 2023’s fifth season, Slasher: Ripper.
Slasher: Ripper turns the clock back to the 19th century for some sinister period piece horror that operates like a bizarro take on Jack the Ripper, albeit with a loaded “Eat the Rich” ethos. The murderous “Widow” wipes out Toronto’s rich and affluent in grisly ways as a hard-boiled detective, Kenner Rijkers, attempts to stop the chaos and prevent his own execution. Slasher’s limited budget means that this 19th century horror story occasionally feels watered down, but the show’s extreme eviscerations are still front and center.
Creepshow, Season 4
Shudder’s Creepshow is a passionate ode to the pulpy B-horror hijinks that would fill the pages of EC Comics during the ’40s and ’50s. Four seasons in, Creepshow is still one of TV’s best horror anthology series that gains strength through its ability to never take itself too seriously. Each Creepshow episode delivers two tales of terror, some of which are adaptations of short stories or completely original ventures. The series doesn’t always reach the high bar that was set by the original feature films. However, the show attempts to offer something for everyone through its diverse morality tales of terror.
Admittedly, Creepshow’s fourth season loses some of the heavy-hitting talent that made the past seasons such a delight, like Joe Lynch and Rob Schrab, but there’s still exceptional work by Greg Nicotero and Jamie Flanagan. The latest season comfortably toes the line between horror and farce, which includes a loving tribute to George A. Romero that literally reanimates the grandfather of zombies and past Creepshow director. A fifth season has yet to be confirmed, but Creepshow continues to be one of the most rewarding and entertaining Shudder original series.
American Horror Stories, Season 3
American Horror Story proper has had a mixed bag of a season that’s based on source material for the first time, as well as it being the first time that series co-creator Ryan Murphy is not the showrunner. AHS: Delicate’s female-driven revisionist take on Rosemary’s Baby hasn’t been the (IVF) shot in the arm that fans had hoped. However, the self-contained episodic spin-off, American Horror Stories, quietly turned out a satisfying selection of four scary, timely stories. “Bestie,” “Tapeworm,” and “Organ” are some of the strongest ideas to come out of either American Horror Story series in years and feel like they could be edgy A24 films if they were just slightly extended (although “Daphne” does feel like “Diet Black Mirror“). Disturbing visuals, tragic characters, and haunting body horror make American Horror Stories’ third season a delight to binge.
Bodies
Netflix’s Bodies is True Detective meets Dark meets Cloud Atlas, as done by Christopher Nolan. The supernatural crime thriller explores four detectives’ investigation of a murder in London that happens across four separate time periods: 1890, 1941, 2023, and 2053. Bodies is rich in rewarding character development, recurring motifs, and an overlapping mystery that’s tightly mapped out so that the narrative never goes off the rails or collapses under its own lofty ambitions. It’s remarkable to see how this one murder mystery operates in each of its respective timelines, as well as how these dots connect. Bodies doesn’t over-extend itself and its creeping incorporation of sci-fi elements and time loop intrigue culminates in a gratifying, gripping experience.
Swarm
Janine Nabers and Donald Glover’s seven-episode Swarm tells a terrifying story of obsessive fandom that connects with blunt intensity. Dominique Fishback gives a tour de force performance as Dre, a maladjusted superfan of Ni’Jah, a Beyoncé analogue. Dre is like the Rupert Pupkin and Patrick Bateman of the YouTube generation. Her rabid adoration of the pop star pushes her to murderous places that abruptly strike and continually keep the audience off-kilter. Swarm is such a delicate exercise in tension that doesn’t give the audience an escape from its creeping chaos. It evokes the unusual energy of Glover’s Atlanta, where anything feels possible, whether that’s graphic murder or a solid guest starring role from Billie Eilish as a cult leader.
In a year where The Idol dominated conversation, Swarm repeatedly stings its audience and allows its venom to gradually spread. Swarm, if nothing else, deserves a lot of respect for its meta structure-breaking penultimate installment, which recontextualizes the entire fever dream of a series as an expository true crime program that manages to be both poignant and provocative. It perfectly encapsulates this modern look into parasocial relationships, delusion, and obsession.
The Boys: Gen V
The Boys, based on Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s comic book series of the same name, came around at the perfect time when superhero fatigue was hitting an all-time high. The Boys’ subversive look into the disturbing power fantasies and corruption that surround God-like individuals has been a welcome salve to the endless deluge of Marvel and DC content. That being said, The Boys has now been around for long enough that it’s beginning to turn into the very thing that it was lampooning. The Boys’ growing connected universe has also given some fans pause, but The Boys: Gen V has been a welcome surprise and an entertaining mix of comic book spectacles and horrifying violence.
Gen V is set at the Godolkin University School of Crimefighting where it follows college-aged “supes” who aspire to join Vought International’s Justice League-esque super-team, The Seven. Gen V operates like a more unhinged version of X-Men that’s somehow filled with more egos, gore, and graphic sexuality than its parent series. The looming threat of corrupt corporations and human experiments means that the characters and audience never get a chance to truly relax in Gen V. The lead character’s “hemokinetic” powers allow her to manipulate blood, which leads to appropriately gruesome setpieces, particularly the showdown that concludes the season. Brash, bloody, and unbelievable, Gen V is a breath of fresh air in a quickly-decaying genre.
Sweet Home, Season 2
Netflix has found tremendous success with its South Korean productions and Sweet Home is an excellent adaptation of the webtoon of the same name. Sweet Home tells a story that’s both familiar and wildly inventive. A monster apocalypse floods the streets and forces society to hide in their homes with little recourse. Cha Hyun-soo finds himself at the darkest point in his life after he loses his family to a car accident and moves to an apartment complex, which turns into a sanctuary when the world ignites with infected monsters. Cha Hyun-soo discovers a new sense of purpose after he co-opts and tenuously controls his own monstrous infection and figures out how to fight fire with fire.
2023’s second season pushes Cha Hun-soo and the rest of the Green Home residents out of their comfort zones when they’re forced to flee their apartment complex, brave the horrifying outside world, and find refuge somewhere else. Sweet Home’s apocalyptic dread hits hard and the series excels when it comes to these vicious monsters and the growing fallout that throws the world in disarray. 2023 has been rich in supernatural dystopian stories on television and film. However, Sweet Home stands out from the pack and functions as a strong gateway into South Korean horror, as well as a thought-provoking examination into the end of times that’s just as interested in its human survivors as it is in the monsters who prey upon them. Sweet Home already has a third season confirmed for 2024, which makes it the perfect time to catch up on this South Korean masterpiece.
30 Coins, Season 2
Álex de la Iglesia’s 30 Coins is easily the wildest horror series on television that you’re not watching. The HBO series about an ex-convict exorcist boxer who may or may not have one of Judas’ thirty pieces of silver made its debut in 2020, but its wilder second season has proven to be one of 2023’s biggest surprises. 30 Coins functions like an ultra-violet riff on Evil that follows a disgraced exorcist, Father Vergara, engages in monster-of-the-week madness that gradually slouches closer towards Bethlehem in each passing episode. 30 Coins has everything that one would want from a nihilistic exorcist series, as well as plenty of things you’d never know you needed, whether that’s cows giving birth to humans, rogue supercomputers, literal trips to hell, and unearthed UFOs.
30 Coins’ ups the stakes in every way possible through its introduction of Paul Giamatti’s apocalyptic billionaire, Christian Barbow, who plans to use Judas’ coins to wipe out humanity and begin anew. Season two culminates in one of the most audacious season finales you’ll ever see that teases Lovecraftian chaos and a third season that’s set to completely rewrite the status quo. Few series are as brave and as bold as 30 Coins, which is reason alone to check out the series. However, the constant gore and demonic encounters help 30 Coins resonate on an episodic level that’s just as satisfying as the gonzo grand narrative that continues to unfurl.
Chucky, Season 3
Don Mancini’s Child’s Play horror franchise has surpassed expectations and feels fresher than ever after its transition to television after seven subversive slasher movies. Chucky is a true love letter to the movies that’s the rare case of a story that’s both indebted to the franchise’s convoluted lore, but also completely accessible to newcomers. Chucky’s third season radically sends the murderous possessed doll to the White House, where Devon Sawa (in his fourth role in the series) plays President James Collins. Chucky doesn’t tone down any of its ideas or brutal violence — there’s actually a voodoo doll inspired sequence this season that involves a potato peeler and fingers that makes the Evil Dead Rise’s grater sequence look like loving foreplay.
Chucky is genuinely disturbing. However, it’s also acutely hilarious with its continued meta-drags on Jennifer Tilly and the tender relationship that’s formed between Jake and Devon is truly sweet and accepting. Season three of Chucky has been divided in two parts, with its final four episodes set to air in 2024. That second half, it’s already been announced, will feature John Waters as Wendell Wilkins, the creator of the Good Guys dolls. We can’t wait.
The Fall of the House of Usher
Mike Flanagan continues to prove himself as one of the most exciting and consistent names in modern horror. Flanagan’s horror contributions for Netflix, like Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Hill House, and Gerald’s Game, have all been home runs. His swan song for the streaming service, The Fall of the House of Usher, is a patient, meticulous, heartbreaking, giallo remix of over a dozen different Edgar Allan Poe works. Flanagan crafts a masterfully layered narrative that assembles an all-star cast out of his repertory players that includes the likes of Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel, and Bruce Greenwood — in what’s easily the best work of the latter’s career.
The Fall of the House of Usher plays out like “Murder Succession” with pulpy, gothic tales of doom that cleverly update Poe’s classics, while it ruminates on deeper questions of legacy, grief, and obsession. Flanagan’s use of color is on a whole other level and some of the grisliest death sequences from the filmmaker’s career are contained to The Fall of the House of Usher. It’s a horror series that’s as contemplative and melancholy as it is terrifying. Now, time to watch that “Lempire” monologue for the umpteenth time.
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