Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist

Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist is set in the years after the Second World War, when Father Lankester Merrin has stepped away from his priestly duties to work as an archaeologist. In British East Africa he joins a dig that uncovers a long-buried Byzantine church, remarkably intact after centuries underground. Inside, the team finds a crypt bearing signs of ritual sacrifice, and the local residents warn that opening the site has released something malevolent. Among the few who take the warnings seriously is a young priest, Father Francis, who comes to believe an evil spirit has taken hold of a boy. Merrin is eventually forced to confront it himself, and to reckon with the faith he had set aside.

Paul Schrader directed the film, the twelfth of the twenty-two features he has made in chronological order, between Auto Focus and Adam Resurrected. Stellan Skarsgård plays Merrin, with Gabriel Mann as Francis, Clara Bellar as Rachel Lesno, Billy Crawford as Cheche and Ralph Brown as Sergeant Major. William Wisher and Caleb Carr wrote the screenplay, James G. Robinson produced, and Morgan Creek backed the production at a reported budget of 30 million USD.

The film was released in May 2005 and runs 116 minutes. Reception has been modest: it holds 5.1/10 on IMDb from around 15,000 votes and 5.3/10 on TMDB from a much smaller pool, while a critics' rating of 4.8/10 from 45 reviews places professional assessments below the audience scores on both platforms.