Full Review

Here's something proponents of auteur theory -- that the primary creator of a film is the director -- will be chewing on for a while. Take roughly the same story, the same lead actor, the same setting, and let two directors armed with different visions and different scripts go off and make a movie.

This isn't some film-school experiment. It actually happened -- well, sort of. Several years back, the Morgan Creek production company decided to make a prequel to William Friedkin's 1973 horror classic, "The Exorcist."

Originally, Morgan Creek hired Paul Schrader to direct, but company executives felt Schrader's film wasn't scary enough (no spinning heads). So they axed Schrader, shelved the film, hired director Renny Harlin, recast some secondary roles and started from scratch. Some $80 million later, they released the refilmed movie as "Exorcist: The Beginning" in 2004. It bombed.

Schrader's subdued yet somewhat involved version is now being released -- as "Dominion: The Prequel to the Exorcist" (Warner Bros.).

The basic plot outline remains the same in both films. Set in 1949 British East Africa, lapsed priest Father Lankester Merrin (played in both by Stellan Skarsgard) wrestles with a crisis of faith wrought by wartime memories of Nazi atrocities in his native Holland, before reluctantly assuming the role of exorcist to help a possessed local boy. In both tellings, the problems start after an ancient evil is unleashed by the excavation of a Byzantine church buried in pristine condition.

Violence also erupts between the local tribesman and a regiment of British soldiers dispatched to guard the archeological dig, giving new meaning to "the devil made me do it."

In "Dominion," Clara Bellar plays village doctor and concentration camp survivor Rachel Lesno (a similar role made intentionally more sexy and played by Izabella Scorupco in "Beginning") and the idealistic young missionary, Father Francis, is played by Gabriel Mann as opposed to James D'Arcy.

Where the two films really part ways is how their respective directors handle the climactic exorcism sequences (during which Merrin rediscovers his lost faith). Harlin went for a traditional horror-film showdown, pitting Merrin against his unholy adversary in a mano-a-Mephistopheles free-for-all.

Schrader, raised a strict Dutch Calvinist, opts for a more introspective approach, having Merrin locked in a theological debate about guilt and forgiveness with Satan (androgynously played by Billy Crawford). And while Merrin is shown to be conflicted (though ultimately redeemed), the priesthood is portrayed with respect.

More a thinking-man's horror movie, "Dominion" is a marked improvement over Harlin's gorier "alternate" version, but that's not saying much.

"Dominion" thoughtfully explores the nature of evil, as well as themes of faith and doubt. In one scene Father Francis says, "Faith is not there to conquer evil, but to help (people) survive it."

However, the at times dry film is hampered by laggard pacing, shaky theology and narrative gaps -- not to mention some cheesy computer-generated effects.

The film contains some strong violence, including a graphic suicide, and several grisly murders and executions, demonic violence, a disturbing childbirth scene, a bloody medical procedure and a few racial slurs. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L --- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.