Rating:  

Strike Entertainment, StudioCanal, Louisiana Media Productions and Lionsgate.

Written by: Huck Botko & Andrew Gurtland.

Although its mere existence may scream retread or cliche, “The Last Exorcism” is a low-budget psychological horror film that is almost the best exorcism film I have seen in a long, long time. Shot as another “found footage” and/or faux-documentary style horror film (“Blair Witch Project”, “[REC]“, “Quarantine”), the movie is yet one more movie about a young girl (why never a boy?) possessed by a demonic force and seemingly in need of the dangerous procedure which will rid the demon from her body and allow her to live a normal life. So admittedly, I yawned and then laughed when viewing the trailer and marketing. However, I must admit that “The Last Exorcism” is almost much better than one might ever expect and provides a fresh and unique take on the exorcist movie sub-genre for almost all of its expeditious 87 minutes. So why then a 2-star rating? Note I said almost.

Opening in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, we meet Rev. Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), the leader of a small Baton Rouge church who is married with a young hearing-impaired son. From the outset, we focus exclusively on Marcus and his family and learn how Cotton became a preacher. The son of a preacher, Cotton had really no choice growing up and was trained in the “family business”. We learn that Cotton performed his first exorcism at the age of 10, under his father’s proud and watchful eye. Now in his late-30′s, Cotton merely goes through the motions as his community’s religious leader, even openly questioning whether he still carries the belief and faith necessary to be a church pastor anymore. A recent exorcism tragedy has brought Cotton to the decision to hire a documentary film crew to reveal a shocking secret — the Marcus family’s nearly 200 exorcisms have been hoaxes, elaborately staged ruses which have allowed people to believe they are healed and earned the Marcus family a sizeable amount of money. Cotton, acknowledging that exorcism requests arrive on a daily basis, has decided that the very next request will be the one that he uses as the means of hopefully debunking the practice of exorcisms once and for all.

Did you know this from the trailer? Neither did I. And the movie soars from the outset, presenting something altogether different and stylistically more innovative than anything previously revealed in the film’s marketing and promotion. But, 2-stars? Stay with me…

The request comes from Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum), a deeply religious and troubled father of two who claims that his 16-year old daughter, Nell (Ashley Bell), is possessed. Cotton briefly skims the letter and sets out to make his last exorcism. Arriving with an arrogance he cannot mask, Cotton meets and convinces Louis to allow the camera crew to document the proceedings and settles in to work his magic. After a rough encounter with Louis’ son, Caleb, Cotton meets Nell, who presents as a sweet, sheltered, mild-mannered, and emotionally stilted teen, eager to be normal again. Cotton rigs the room and gets everything ready, although rather carelessly as Caleb catches one of Cotton’s “techniques”.

There is a lot more to share but doing so would ruin much of the intrigue that director Daniel Stamm generates. Naturally, Cotton thinks he has achieved his final success both for the Sweetzer family and for his bigger purpose but, as is obvious to anyone watching, he may not be able to leave the Sweetzer family’s situation as easily as he thinks.

What makes this film so good for so long is the naturalistic quality that the film creates. The performances by Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell as Rev. Marcus and Nell, respectively, are quite exceptional. Fabian shines throughout the film and nails the jaded, slightly shameful, and self-doubting preacher that Cotton Marcus is and has become. Ashley Bell’s work here as the possessed Nell is riveting. Bell easily travels from octave to octave, playing every emotion believably. At times, Nell’s actions and behaviors will make you recoil as well as make you feel empathy for her situation. As Cotton connects more and more with Nell and feels more compelled to help her through whatever she is experiencing, you buy in and cannot help but become engrossed in the happenings at the Sweetzer farm.

For 80 minutes or so, this is really fantastic entertainment. The script by Huck Botko & Andrew Gurtland is complex in emotion, well-written, and organic to its core. Stretches of “The Last Exorcism” are so compelling that I ignored the fact that tense moments are supported by background score, which would never exist in a “found footage” documentary. At the time I found it to be a forgivable gaffe. Forgivable until the film’s rapid and unexpected freefall from something potentially memorable into something completely inane and insulting to a viewer who has bought into the story, the world, the experience.

It is aggravating, almost beyond logic and reason, that “The Last Exorcism” sacrifices all of its good for the most implausible and brain dead conclusion one could ever imagine. Other reviewers have forgiven the film’s final moments, claiming that the rest of what precedes it is too good to dismiss. Perhaps, but the ending is so spectacularly bad, empty-headed, shortsighted, and completely vapid that you cannot help but think that you had to have been imaging the great movie you were just watching.

Removed from seeing it, I am angry at this movie. I am furious at “The Last Exorcism” for wasting everything it had going for it. Shot for a meager $1.8 million and utilizing minimal CGI and/or special effects, this movie should be heralded and championed as overcoming its odds and perceptions and standing out as an unsettling, disturbing, and even thought-provoking analysis of religious fanaticism in today’s culture. Perhaps in honor of Nell’s character, the creative minds behind “The Last Exorcism” allowed some kind of demonic Hollywood entity to possess their movie and screenplay.

I will leave it up to you to decide whether you want to invest in “The Last Exorcism” or not. For me and virtually everyone in attendance at my viewing, people were talking refund, laughing at the film, and/or bagging on it in general. And such a shame because Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, and this film’s viewers deserve a rich dividend for investing in something that ultimately serves as cheap and as tawdry as Cotton Marcus’ exorcism parlor tricks.

Should I See It?

Fans of suspense and horror films are going to absolutely want to see this.

Many, better than I, will probably forgive the ending and be surprised by the unique take on material which might appear to be tired and drained of any originality.

The performances by Ashley Bell and especially, Patrick Fabian are worth seeing. And yes, Bell is contorting her body without use of CGI or effect.

The ending ruins everything good in the film.

The marketing does not reveal that this is a faux-documentary, so unsuspecting viewers may be confused by a film which appears to be a horror film and is something more cerebral.

This PG-13 rating is pushing it. Some very adult themes and dialogue, unrelated to the exorcism moments, are on display and will be unsettling to most teenagers – or parents of teenagers.

These films seem blasphemous to you.