The Last Exorcism (2010)
Starring Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, and Louis Herthum
Directed by Daniel Stamm
If one were to really sit back and think about the goings-on in The Last Exorcism, some of the plot holes stand out like a sore thumb. However, on the surface, the horror flick is surprisingly tense and, despite a rather silly final reel, the low budget film shot in the same documentary-style vein as The Blair Witch Project is effective in nearly all aspects of production.
Reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian AKA Professor Lasky of Saved by the Bell: The College Years fame) is a self-professed fraud of a Louisiana preacher. While he enjoys the "show" he gets to put on every Sunday, he has reached a point where he doesn't believe a thing he spouts. For some unsatisfactorily explained reason (which is one of the faults I hinted at above), Cotton allows a two-person documentary film crew to follow him on what will be his last performance of an exorcism (and "performance" is the key word there). Needless to say, there wouldn't be a movie if something didn't go awry and Cotton's faith (or lack thereof) is soon tested.
The best thing The Last Exorcism has going for it are the performances, particularly that of Ashley Bell whose possibly possessed sixteen year-old Nell is frightening. Running the gamut from childlike innocence to psychotic demon isn't an easy thing to do. Bell has a tricky role considering the interesting twists the script throws her way, but she handles everything quite admirably. Also surprisingly, for a film that takes place in the podunk South, the folks we meet aren't of the Deliverance style of acting which is always a nice treat when directors don't resort to the stereotypes which so often happens.
Still, the film is not without its faults...and here's where the SPOILERS come in (so just skip on down to the rating to avoid them). (1) There is one single camera filming things and yet there are many scenes in which we get multiple angled shots of events as they unfold. (2) Considering what occurred at the film's conclusion, how was this footage even found? I'm pretty darn sure that this stuff would've been burned. (3) That ending? Just kinda silly, unfortunately. For a film that intrigued me, the ending was a bit of a letdown. Ultimately, it didn't ruin things, but turning it into some whacked-out Christian thing wasn't the right way to end the film.
Nonetheless, despite the faults, I liked The Last Exorcism quite a bit and certainly think it's one of the better horror films I've seen in a while.
The RyMickey Rating: B
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