Alternate "Exorcist" Lives!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... /16341&e=4

The Exorcist: The Beginning is going back to the beginning.

Morgan Creek Productions, which shelved director Paul Schrader's original version of the horror prequel for not being scary enough and then hired Renny Harlin to reshoot the movie, has now decided to release Schrader's take in theaters.


Schrader's film had been gathering dust for over a year, when Morgan Creek and Warner Bros. decided to issue Harlin's redo theatrically. But last month, Schrader's prequel got its big-screen debut at the Brussels International Fantasy Festival. Now, according to Daily Variety, Morgan Creek and Warners have signed off on a limited run in North American theaters beginning May 20 (better known as the Day After Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith).


Schrader, whose writing credits include Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and directing rsum includes American Gigolo, Cat People and Auto Focus, inherited the Exorcist project in 2002 from original director John Frankenheimer, who was too ill to work (he died later that year).


The film featured Stellan Skarsgard as a devil-battling priest who takes on Pazuzu, the demon that later possesses Linda Blair's Regan in 1973's original The Exorcist.


But the project soon turned nightmarish for Schrader. Although he brought the $50 million film in on time and on budget, Morgan Creek execs weren't thrilled by what they saw. The suits complained that the flick not only had a bummer of an ending, but was not commercial because it eschewed graphic gore in favor of psychological suspense.


The production house then parted ways with Schrader (Morgan Creek cited "creative differences;" the filmmaker called it "buyer's remorse") and gave the reins to Harlin (Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea), along with another $35 million to reconfigure the film.


While Harlin retained most of the cast from Schrader's version, including Skarsgard, he brought in a new writer and essentially reshot the entire film. Lambasted by critics as Exorcist-lite, Harlin's prequel hit theaters last August, grossing $40 million domestically and $82 million in worldwide ticket sales.


Morgan Creek held on to Schrader's cut, however, hoping to release it on DVD opposite Harlin's dueling version.


"They had extremely ambivalent feelings about it," Schrader told London's Independent newspaper last month. "They wanted to make some money. But obviously, they take the risk that, the better people think of my film, the worse they look.


"It's obviously an extremely difficult situation for them. They gave me the money to finish the film on the cheap, so that there would be a DVD. And I was trying to work out a way, to give it a theatrical life as well."


So Schrader contacted organizers of the Brussels fest, which agreed to showcase the film.


And whether the devil made them do it or not, Morgan Creek execs had a change of heart, agreeing to release Schrader's film. No word yet on how many theaters will screen the film--or even what it will be called. The Brussels fest billed it as Paul Schrader's The Exorcist: The Original Prequel, however Variety reports that Morgan Creek is considering the title Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.

I'd see it.

God, that movie has gone through so many rewrites. I haven't seen the version that has already came out, but I can only imagine that it is a pile of festering dog feces. I have no love for any of the Exorcist sequels though, it just seems like a movie that was NOT made for sequels. I view it like making a sequel to the Shining.

After all of the hype i didnt even find the first one thaty scary. But i would always prefer a psychological(sp?) thriller over gore-filled non-sense.

My dad gave me 10 bucks to go watch it alone in a room and in the dark when I was 12, and it scared the living fuck out of me. Scary movies are all about the environment you see them in.

Damn that is cruel! I remember seeing the Exorcist when I was just a kid also, but my buddy and I had to sneak it into his house and watch it late at night..... certainly much scarier when you're a child!