Movie Watch

I finally got around to picking up a copy of Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist on DVD the other day. It's a movie that I've wanted to add to my collection for some time but never found the time or money to actually do so (that, and there always seemed to be another disc with more attractive features to devour). Anyway, as much as I like having the movie on disc with the full Dolby Digital 5.1 audio and all that stuff that makes piracy 'just not worth it', more than anything I was curious and eager to hear the audio commentary track with director Paul Schrader. The interviews I've read with him since it was announced that Dominion would be given new life have all been very insightful to how I watch the film and the industry in general (it was through Schrader that I first learned how Hollywood treats theatrical releases as adverts for their DVD releases).

Needless to say, I had high hopes for what his audio track would be like.

Unfortunately, what I've heard so far doesn't sound too engaging. It's actually kind of dull, to be perfectly honest. Maybe it was more the province of William Wisher and Caleb Carr to talk about the themes and ideas being presented in the movie, but I think by not discussing them much, if at all, Schrader missed an opportunity to continue the discourse that began over 30 years ago with Blatty's original novel and its film adaptation. Blatty and Friedkin do so on their commentaries and interviews on the various Exorcist DVDs and I think that they're an important part of the overall experience.

I know it could be argued that Schrader has already discussed these things in the interviews I just cited as having read (which he does) but I've been a fan of this body of work for many years and was maybe wanting just one more excuse to have this film stand out in comparison to the PG-13 Harlin version.

Ah well, at least there's a host of deleted scenes to get into when I'm done with the commentary. For that matter, just having this movie in my collection at all should be considered a bonus feature unto itself. What's that saying about being thankful for the things one has?

Later!

mike