anybody gonna see it? any pre-thoughts about it flopping?

i for one am gonna see it.

Waiting for the DVD. You see, originally the film was directed by Paul Schrader, screenwriter of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull and director of American Gigolo and other films. The producers saw his finished work and decided it was too dark.

They then decided to hire another director, Renny Harlin, to completely reshoot the thing. Renny Harlin is the director of Die Hard 2, the pirate movie with Geena Davis, and Driven with Sylvester Stallone. More commercial director.

What is cool is they are planning to release both films on DVD later. I think I will prefer the Schrader version.

Can you believe I am actually gonna agree with Big 12-0 on something???? I as well will probably wait for the other version to hit dvd soon enough...

Wow Dave, I cannot believe it either!

How could a film about demon possession be too dark?

Because the producers apparently want the film to make a lot of money. If a film is too dark, word of mouth will not be so good. But if its just a fun, scary, rollercoaster ride of a movie, most filmgoers will happily tell their friends.

Schrader's version would have a Taxi Driver feel to it. Harlin's will be more of a Poltergeist type.

Back in the 70's when The Exorcist was such a huge blockbuster, moviegoers would actually pay to see something truly scary and dark (Rosemary's Baby, etc.). Not so much anymore.

[This message has been edited by Big 12-0 (edited 8/20/2004 11:15a).]

That and the original version didn't have alot of blood in it....Studio's the way they are now wanted more blood...Guess they thought you can't sell a psychological thriller anymore...

The studio didn't allow a preview for critics. Not a good sign.

Harlin's not a complete hack, but he's certainly not going to make any kind of cerebral horror movie -- which if you are going to do a movie in the Exorcist series is a must.

Elm Street 4 is stupid but fun.
Die Hard 2 is stupid but fun.
Cliffhanger is stupid but fun.
Mindhunters is stupid but fun.


Problem is, a stupid but fun Exorcist was done in 1990 with Repossessed...

Agree with Big Cat, anytime a studio releases a movie without a critics prescreening, it's usually a sign that they have little faith in the final product

ok...

but, has anyone seenn the movie?

Non-prescreened movie + 7% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes = crappy movie.

Then again, Open Water got good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and I was bored out of my mind.

I too saw Open Waters last night. Was expecting a quite different ending. It was a little overated and not as frightful as I was expecting.

saw it yesterday. the scenes where the demon faced off with the humans was the only highpoint. otherwise, it was just not a well done film, and a bit hard to follow. the characters, other than father merrin, were not in any way interesting. it seemed random and thrown together. the "twist" was predictable - who will the demon take possession of... and the special effects were overdone and cheesy.

4/10, being generous.

Yeah, I don't think anyone could have expected much from this movie with it having been completely remade over with a new director and screenwriters and haphazardly put together again.

Incredible! I agree with Big12-0 as well...allsome, indeed.