This prequel to "The Exorcist" seeks to follow the first confrontation between a young Father Merrin and Pazuzu, countering the opening scenes of the first film. The environment of the film is roughly in British Kenya, where a Byzantine chapel has just been discovered, in perfect condition because it was deliberately buried soon after construction. Here begins the problems of this film, with the script gluing Byzantine art to a chapel whose interior has nothing to do with it, besides being outside the geographical area where the Byzantines were. Okay, the movie is fiction, but does it need to invent something so unrealistic? Father Merrin is the most dense and complete character. Interpreted by Stellan Skarsgård in a relatively satisfactory manner, he is a priest in doubt due to the remorse and traumas of World War II. All this has been well used and intelligently developed. Another thing I liked was the romantic subplot between the priest and Sarah, the attractive nurse of the field, played by Izabella Scorupco. Possessions are slow to occur although demonic signs are evident, and the ending may even be surprising, but only partially. The film attempts to compensate for obvious screenplay flaws with special effects, but most attempts are so rudimentary that it does not have the desired impact. Renny Harlin may not be the worst director ever but he is definitely not one of the best. Throughout the film, there are very obvious exaggerations, likely fruit of a bad script and an indolent director. One of them is the characterization of Scorupco at the end of the film, in a clear and unnecessary allusion to "The Exorcist". This film was an effort, but an effort without glory or merit for any of those involved.

In the same way that Columbus discovered "America"--a giant place that was there for millions of years; Marrin discovered churches in east Africa. The problem is that Christianity factually entered that area during the 3-4th centuries. The first church in that region--Debre Damo--was built in the late 500's A.C.E. It is worth noting that Christianity actually started in the east and then spread to Rome.. not the other way around. Aside from that, as an atheist, I don't take much of the movie seriously. I do like the horror genre so I try my best to appreciate a good story line either way.I was drawn to the side-story that "bad things" were happening during the filming of this movie back in 2003. I am not certain as to whether they were trying to use the same "supernatural appeal" that Blair Witch had a few years earlier.

In 1949, the British army has stumbled onto a buried Byzantium church in Kenya. The church's date is too early and shouldn't exist. Merrin (Stellan Skarsgård) is a former priest who suffered a traumatic war experience. He's called in to help with the archaeological dig. Father Francis (James D'Arcy) is sent in by the Vatican, and Sarah (Izabella Scorupco) is also trying to escape the horrors of WWII.This is simply not a scary movie. That's the biggest and really the only measuring stick for a horror movie. At almost 2 hours, it's way too long. The pace is way too slow. The look of the production seems smaller than what the budget would indicate.The feel of the movie hearkens back to the 70s, and not in good way. Horror movies have moved on, but this one still believes that flies are scary. The CGI is not the best. The blood and guts are acceptable. The baby with maggots looks creepy. But other times, the movie holds back too much. The coyote attack should have been scary, but it's never given a chance. It's just not good enough for today's audience.

As always never keep my hopes high about sequels, prequels and... but this one surprised big time.When the movies started and Mr. Merrin was approached and sent there to investigate in a desert i thought, okay, this is going to be either very good or unwatchable, and it turned out to be a very good Exorcist.I really enjoyed The Beginning from the starting point till the very end of it it started good, it developed slowly but brilliantly it didn't leave any questions unanswered from Father Merrins earlier life.The original one left me wondering why the figurine that Father Merrin found meant to him, but it is very well explained in The Beginning.There were also some very scary moments and scenes in this movie that every horror fan expects to see in a horror movie. And apart from these goodies it has very surprising events that keep the movie very very watchable.But there were some discrepancies historical as well as factual that are preventing me from giving ten stars to The Beginning, but still a very good horror movies.