Director: Renny Harlan
Year: 2004
Country: United Kingdom/France/Italy/Pakistan/USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Possession
Plot:
Asked to investigate a strange Kenyan church, a former priest finds the strange incidents happening to the villagers around the site are connected to the true reason for the church's placement at the site as a great evil sweeps through camp and forces him to rely on his faith to save them.
Review:
Of the two versions of the film, this one is the slightly better effort. What really helps this one is the more overt and explicit showings that demonstrate something here, which this one wisely manages throughout. There's plenty of chilling work around the village of the natives and their superstitions tied into the different stories about the others running away terrified of the events around them for getting the first half going, but it's the action scenes here that start this off even better. From the utterly savage hyena attack in the village, the continuous efforts to protect the possessed son from the demonic targets against him, and the crazed ambushes by the drunken guide there's plenty of rather fun action within here that all give this one the idea that something's brewing.
Even better here is the intriguing suspense scenes that not only play up the action but also get the biggest points possible for the film's ploy about building evil around the site. There's the creepy walk-through of the church where they discover the desecrated religious artifacts still preserved in immaculate condition, a later scene of him exploring the underground caves where the sacrifices thousands of years earlier were held which is quite tense for the way this one goes about showing the underground tunnels littered with strange statues and the rather chilling scene where the villagers appear to the possessed child in full tribal gear to perform their own exorcism which fails spectacularly that really gives this one a decent enough feel here.
As well, the finale is a lot of fun with the big battle between the natives and soldiers which forces the sanctuary in the church where the final exorcism attempts occur throughout the crypts and underground caverns that come with tons of action, thrilling suspense, and great demon make-up that makes this a fantastic sequence. This is certainly a gory enough film and is actually quite bloody in that final battle, which delivers some nice gruesome gore in decapitations, stabbings, slicing, and much more, as well as periodical happenings as well showing off some graphic mutilations. It's the most gruesome entry in the series which is a nice enough feature. There's enough good here that this holds off the few small flaws within this.
The main issue here is the absolutely dreary pacing here in the first half which is building up the storyline but places them so far apart it's hard to really get any suspense from the proceedings. It's all implications in here, as nothing is really explained as a matter-of-fact statement, and is quite aggravating when things get out of control and nobody tells why. Its other big issue is the lame CGI throughout here which really doesn't look impressive at all as the comical nature of the sequences undercuts the tension drastically.
As well, the acting in this one is highly suspect. Despite being a prominent role, Stellan Skarsgard as Father Merrin is pretty much a non-entity for most of the film. Basically sitting around moping about the past and letting things happen around him, nothing all that impressive is done with him and his regaining his faith is a contrived leap that comes about through plot convenience rather than any form of context from the events that happened. Also problematic is the character of Sarah, played by Izabella Scorupo who really doesn't do much at all beyond being the token love interest where one's not needed. She's not needed and does nothing beyond being nice to look at. The other name in this one, Father Francis played by James D'Arcy, is so nondescript he barely bears any mention. You really forget he's there at times and doesn't really do much overall when he is so it's not all that important he's there. Otherwise, there's not much to dislike here.
Overview: ***.5/5
Don't ask for too much understanding of the plot here and you should be fine. It certainly isn't the greatest horror movie ever, but it wasn't trying to either. It was just a little fun flick that centered around demonic possession, and it's not a total waste so give it a shot if you're a fan of the others as it isn't that bad.
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