(re)Search my Trash

<body> <div align="left"> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="800" cellpadding="0" height="100%"> <tr> <td width="100" rowspan="3" background="../stylepix/square.gif" valign="top">  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="3"></td> <td width="592" height="1%" valign="top">  </td> <td width="4" rowspan="3"></td> <td width="100" rowspan="3" background="../stylepix/squareright.gif" valign="top">  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="592" valign="top" height="99%">    <p>All across the world, demonic possessions have become something of an epidemic, so much so that the Vatican has taken notice of it and has sent a "task force" into what is believed the center of the "disease", a seemingly insignificant rural village in the UK. Of course, it wouldn't be the vatican if there wasn't some kind of scheming involved, so Father Dominic (Bob Lee), who's in charge of the investigation, sends in Father Jan (Rudy Barrow), a priest fallen out of grace with his flock, and Daryl Lux (Liz Mente Bishop), an epidemologist fallen out of favour with her employer. And all he affords them as abode is a small trailer in the middle of a meadow, where he figures the two, who come from very different backgrounds and have very different sets of beliefs, are sure to clash.<p>However, after visiting a few "possessed" and scouting the surrounding area, with each experiencing things their set of beliefs cannot explain, they start to bond, and their investigations start to lead somewhere ... even though their results only lead to more questions ... like why does the DNA of those possessed show that they are actually snakes (!)? And why is the local pond's water made from the DNA of a certain snake from Iraq? And what will happen to Daryl now that she has drunk of the water? And what has Tiamat, the ancient Mesopotamian serpent Goddess of chaos, which some of the possessed worship, do to with all of this? And what's the story of these weirdo (Nathan Head), who's got his car full of Sumerian symbols to ward off evil and who's following them, got to do with all of this? And why do they suddenly find themselves on the run from the locals? And what, indeed, is the Vatican's role in all of this?<p> <p><b>Exorcist Chronicles</b> was easily director Philip Gardiner's biggest film thus far, and it shows in scope: There are loads of scenes of possession, a large cast, multiple narrative threads, special effects and whatnot  - and yet, despite the plot wading knee-deep in mythology, symbolism and conspiracy theories (Gardiner's strengths), it never loses its plot and follows its story through. And while all of this might sound a little like a poor man's <b>Da Vinci Code</b>, it is in fact anythong but, putting its emphasis not so much on spectacular setpieces but on its plot's underlying atmosphere of threat (and creating atmosphere is another of Gardiner's strengths), invariably putting mood over spectacle, creating a feeling of unease with the audience rather than relying on mental overload - so at the end of the day, at its heart tells a very intimate story about two opposed characters thrown together by fate (if you can call it that) trying to overcome odds much too powerful to overcome. <p>A very powerful movie, recommended!<p>  <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="305" align="right"> <tr> <td width="100%"> <p align="right"><img border="0" src="../stills/exorcistchronicles-me.jpg" width="300" height="174"></p> <p align="center"><i>me in <b>Exorcist Chronicles</b></i></td> </tr> </table> <p>Oh, by the way (and please excuse this little ego trip), the "Michael Haberfelner" in the credits - that's actually me, I play one of the possessed at 47.08 minutes, if I remember correctly. Now I would call this my "15 seconds of fame", only I think my snippet doesn't even last that long ;) - just hope I didn't destroy the movie, because the rest is really good! <p>  </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="592" valign="top" height="1%">  <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> currentyear = "2013"; </SCRIPT> <SCRIPT language="JavaScript" src="../scripts/endcredits.js"></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"> dosworsdonn(); </SCRIPT> </td> </tr> </table> </div> </body>