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[The Last Exorcism]
Plot:When he arrives on the rural Louisiana farm of Louis Sweetzer, the Reverend Cotton Marcus expects to perform just another routine "exorcism" on a disturbed religious fanatic. An earnest fundamentalist, Sweetzer has contacted the charismatic preacher as a last resort, certain his teenage daughter Nell is possessed by a demon who must be exorcized before their terrifying ordeal ends in unimaginable tragedy. Buckling under the weight of his conscience after years of parting desperate believers with their money, Cotton and his crew plan to film a confessionary documentary of this, his last exorcism. But upon arriving at the already blood drenched family farm, it is soon clear that nothing could have prepared him for the true evil he encounters there. Now, too late to turn back, Reverend Marcus' own beliefs are shaken to the core when he and his crew must find a way to save Nell - and themselves - before it is too late.
Cast:Patrick Fabian,
Iris Bahr,
Louis Herthum,
Ashley Bell,
Tony Bentley,
Caleb Jones,
Shanna Forrestall,
Allen Boudreaux,
Denise Lee,
Becky Fly,
Logan Craig Reid,
Jamie Alyson Caudle.
My Thoughts:Well taught but too slow sometimes.
Review:"The Last Exorcism" was billed as the movie that was supposed to put the A-typical exorcism film back on the map. After years of languishing every since "The Exorcism Of Emily Rose". After it was all said and done, and I had witnessed this so-called "return to true horror"...I was slightly impressed...but also unfulfilled. "The Last Exorcism" follows a reverend named Cotton Marcus. Marcus basically believes in modern-day religion. Which is get the suckers into the church, get their cash, and deliver a fiery sermon to get them all riled up, and believer-like.
He's not a con-artist or a bad man persay, he just understands that preaching is just as much about showmanship, as it is about delivering "the word". Cotton is called out to a farm in rural Louisiana by a man who's daughter is possessed by a demon. His mission? Exorcise the evil, foul spirit from her body...thus saving her soul. Cotton doesn't believe in exorcisms though, and thinks most of the so-called possessed, are either badly-behaved people or just crazy in some way.
Thus...he approaches this latest holy gig, just as he has approached past ones. With much skepticism. But soon...upon his arrival, he begins to "go to work", on the alleged possessed girl. And after awhile, his wall of disbelief begins to crumble. I really wasn't that into this movie from the start, and I think it was because of the way it's shot. It's shot in the "Blair Witch Project"/"Cloverfield" style of filmmaking. Shaky camera angles and all. Poor lighting as well. I think this way of shooting is starting to become highly overused.
It worked in "Cloverfield"...because that film had so much action, suspense, and great character interaction to where you hardly noticed it was being shot cinema verite style. But "The Last Exorcism" is supposed to be a slow-moving, tense horror/thriller. And movies like this need to be directed in a traditional kind of way, in order to get the full brunt of things, and the full effect of the scenes. Particularly the exorcism scenes. As for the exorcism's themselves, the movie doesn't make the most of those sequences, and thus it's bread and butter kind of falls flat.
There aren't many exorcism scenes to begin with, as a majority of the movie is spent introducing us to Cotton Marcus, and showing his background growing up in the church. After that...we move on to him making his way to the town where his latest "exorcism" is supposed to be performed. So in an 80 minute movie, we get a small amount of exorcism scenes. One of which is slightly eye-brow-raising. The others, eh.....not so much. This is what "Emily Rose" did fantastically. It took the exorcism scenes, and made them stand out with acting, atmosphere, etc.
"The Last Exorcism" fails at this, and kind of sticks by the traditional/boring A-typical exorcism scenes that we've seen in a few horror films previous to this one. The actor who plays Cotton Marcus however, Patrick Fabian...gives a good performance, which is what keeps an otherwise boring and droll film...from turning into a total waste of $9.75. As for the other actors, their performances are so overshadowed by Fabian's, and so uninspiring, that you sometimes forget that they're even there. It would've been nice to see a supporting cast member in the movie step up and do something powerful and memorable. But even the possessed girl can't match Fabian's on-screen presence.
And when that happens, it's a big time disaster considering she's supposed to be the big EVIL, in this battle between good (Cotton), and evil (Nell). The town itself is also highly stereotyped. It's rural Louisiana, so it's expected. But the way this film intro's the town, is similar to how "Blair Witch 2" intro'ed the small town Jeff and the others visited, where everyone was bible-fearing, confrontational, angry, and strange. I was hoping form a slight bit of change of pace, guess not. However, despite it's glaring weaknesses..."The Last Exorcism" does manage to pack it's third act with suspense, and some much needed juice to get things rolling again.
Act three is kind of like waking up from a deep slumber that was Act's 1 and 2. By the end of act three, you're pretty much on the edge of your seat, and the film smartly hands off an ending to the viewer which while it does carry a cliche or two, manages to shock, surprise, bewilder, and disturb overall. The movies final 25 minutes pack just enough of a punch to atleast 70% wipe away the lacking excitement of the movies first two acts. Although I wonder what took the movie so long to free itself up, and just scare the viewer. Too bad it only came in the final 25. "TLE" is worth seeing once, especially if you're a fan of horror, and further more...Exorcism-related horror.
Positives:Good performance by Fabian, great third act, good opening 10 minutes as well, which gives us background on Cotton Marcus.
Negatives:The film drives into a cinematic ditch in the middle of act 1, all the way to act 2 (late). Again, too bad act three didn't bleed into the middle of act two. Otherwise, this would've been a much better film than it was.
Overall:Two stars out of four.
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