Book Review: THE TAKING by Dean Koontz. *** and a 1\2 out of *****

From the late 1990s onwards, the work of Dean Koontz took on a somewhat jarring tone. Novels like Sole Survivor (1997), One Door Away from Heaven (2001), Odd Thomas (2003), and Innocence (2013), were all repetitive thrillers about lost characters in search of redemption, or innocent characters hunted down by irredeemably evil figures, with most of the stories having a religious undercurrent that could be pretty off-putting. Some of these books worked. Many of them didn’t.

Since The Taking, originally published in 2004, seemed more of the same, I dove into it with low expectations, giving it a go mainly because, in an interview with Koontz that I came across recently, he mentioned that he considered The Taking one of his all-time favorite books.

The Taking revolves around Molly and Niel Sloan, who wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of pouring rain, a cataclysmic downpour that threatens to drown their small California town. Quickly, the young couple senses that something tremendous is going on, maybe even the end of the world as they know it. So they venture out of the safety of their home, and seek their neighbors, feeling the need to band together against this otherworldly threat. But they soon come to realize that their neighbors are not what they seem, and that what’s going on surpasses their worst nightmares.

The Taking is Koontz going full-throttle, for better or worse. The book is immensely readable, a true page-turner, and the main character, Molly, is a likable, vulnerable, but innately strong character. But Koontz’s penchant for heavy-handed prose and preachiness also shine through, and he seems more interested in atmosphere and creating a sense of cosmic dread, than in structuring a satisfying plot.

And that’s the thing about The Taking: it’s virtually plotless. The whole story revolves around a concept, not a plot, of seemingly omnipotent and malevolent beings taking over the world, and how Molly and her husband deal with that. There are some interesting sidetracks, and the dialogue is crisp throughout, but the book feels like a short story or a novella expanded into a novel.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And The Taking isn’t a bad book. In fact, it’s a very good one, and, surprisingly, turns out to be one of Koontz’s best, mainly because of Koontz’s ability to hone in on his obsession and fascination with the concept of pure evil, and how good people confront it.

The Taking is a truly disturbing descent into a hellish situation, into a world subverted by evil and paranoia. And even if the scale of the story isn’t as epic as it pretends to be, the imagery, the philosophical implications, and the final revelation make this a haunting metaphysical thriller that leaves a lasting impression and plenty of food for thought.

Recommended for fans of the author and for newcomers alike.

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Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2023.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @DFantasticPodcast

Review: DOMINION: Prequel to THE EXORCIST: The Truth Behind The Scary Production of A Unique Horror Film

The Exorcist series has proven to be fascinating over the past 30 years or so. The original, released in 1973 changed cinema and horror movies forever. The sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic, released in 1977, was a polarizing, controversial film, while Exorcist III: Legion, released in 1990, was a flawed masterpiece that took the series in a different direction.

And now we come to the prequels Exorcist: The Beginning and Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist, both produced in 2004.

But the making of both of these prequels is a tremendous story in itself. Dominion was supposed to be directed by John Frankenheimer, who actually started to helm the picture, when he fell gravely ill and left the production. Paul Schrader, the brilliant, always controversial filmmaker stepped in to complete the film, only to be fired after submitting his final cut to producers. The producers then hired Renny Harlin to re-shoot almost the entire film with the same crew and basically the same cast, and the result was Exorcist: The Beginning, released in 2004.

But Exorcist: The Beginning was a critical and financial failure, and Morgan Creek, the production company behind the whole debacle, decided to bring back Schrader to finish editing his version, giving him very little money to complete the post-production process. Schrader’s version finally saw the light of day in 2005 as Dominion.

So, after all this trouble, which version of the film is better? Surprisingly, the answer to that question isn’t that easy to come by. On the one hand, Renny Harlin’s Exorcist: The Beginning is seemingly much more commercial, with a lot more bells and whistles, and the cinematography by Vittorio Storaro is nothing short of sumptuous. One goes in expecting a crass, mind-numbing commercial horror movie, and what one gets (with the exception of the hysterical exorcism sequence near the end of the film) is a relatively subdued, polished and compelling supernatural thriller.

Paul Schrader’s Dominion is a completely different creation. It is not a horror film by any means, there are no bells and whistles (which is understandable, since Schrader was given very little time and money to complete post-production) and the special effects are kept to a minimum. But these are the same factors that make Dominion such a compelling film. With emphasis on mood, long master shots, and nuanced performances, this is a slow, hypnotic and strange psychological thriller.

In terms of how it fares compared to the other films in the series, Dominion is somewhere between an art film and the metaphysical musings of Exorcist II.

So, which version is better? Arguably, both versions, Exorcist: The Beginning and Dominion, have merit. But Dominion is much more haunting, and, therefore, more memorable.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2014- 2016.

* This article originally appeared on Bitlanders.