Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist is a 2005 American supernatural horror film directed by Paul Schrader. It is an alternative prequel to The Exorcist (1973) and the fifth entry in The Exorcist series. It was written by William Wisher and Caleb Carr. Many years before the events in The Exorcist, the young Father Lankester Merrin (played by Skarsgård, who played the same part in Exorcist: The Beginning) travels to East Africa. Merrin has taken a sabbatical from the Church and devoted himself to history and archaeology as he struggles with his shattered faith. He is haunted especially by an incident in a small village in occupied Holland during World War II, where he served as parish priest. Near the end of the war, a sadistic Nazi SS commander, in retaliation for the murder of a German trooper, forces Merrin to participate in arbitrary executions in order to save a full village from slaughter.