"Evil is a spiritual being..alive and living, perverted and perverting,

                    weaving its way insideosly into the very fabric of life."

This film is the prequel to the original Exorcist film, and begins with Father Merrin in Holland in 1944. The Nazi's ask Merrin to choose ten villagers to die after one of their soldiers had been killed, and despite protests Merrin begins to choose who the firing squad should shoot...and this inevitable results in the father carrying about a huge amount of guilt for his actions.

We then shift to the British owned East Africa, where Merrin, who seems to have lost his faith, has become an archeologist whilst on his temporary sabbatical. The Colonel of the British regiment orders Merrin, and one Father Francis, to go to the latest site and continue there work. They have discovered a 5th century church amongst the ruins, yet the stones look new and they conclude that for some reason the church was buried as soon as it had been built. The church it seems had other purposes other than worshiping god, and underneath some form of sacrificial chamber lead them to believe the church to be evil. Meanwhile a local disfigured lad, Cheche, seems to be making miraculous physical recoveries whilst all of those around them begin to suffer. The British army get involved, yet when two officers are found dead in the church the army immediately blame the locals and a civil was threatens to break out.

Father Francis believes Cheche to be a second coming, but this boy is not what he seems...Francis attempts to take Cheche to the uncovered church in order to baptise him, but the boy is possessed by an evil spirit and is in no mood to relinquish this body to the church. We are left with Merrin facing his worst fears when battling with this evil spirit, using Merrin's guilt and loss of faith to destroy him. Whilst this is certainly a clever and enlightening film which introduces us to the demon that possesses a young Regan in the Exorcist film, it is at times slow. However I enjoyed getting to know more about Merrin and the demon, and so it is certainly worth a watch.

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