Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist

Now that moviegoers have the good fortune—if that's the right term—to sample both the original-recipe and extra-crispy versions of the newest Exorcist entry, they can gauge how Paul Schrader's formerly shelved vision stacks up against its evil Hollywoodized twin, Exorcist: The Beginning. But unless you're an auteur theorist, Schrader's serving of Satanic schlock will simply be a second round of cinematic root canal. He's turned the Africa-set trials of Father Merrin (Skarsgård) into a banal, Bergmanesque examination of faith that's as somnambulistic as the other film is superficially slick.