Last Exorcism- my review (yes…it’s been done)

Hey everyone, it's been a while since I posted here, but my brother and I just watched The Last Exorcism and I wanted to share my thoughts with you guys. This is my review (WARNING: definite spoilers…but if you're interested…I suggest you check this one out).

 

I know I'm a little late to the game, I read the reviews when the movie first came out, but honestly, I don't really remember them. I literally wanted nothing to do with this movie when it came out in theaters and on DVD. I knew I would hate it. I knew it would be garbage. It ended up coming out on Netflix as a streaming movie, and my brother, battling with a bout of insomnia decided to give it a shot. He called the next day and demanded that I check it out. Well, I'm a college student, so demanding an hour and a half of my time is kind of a tall order. When he came to visit the parents and I a week or so later, he was adamant that we watch it. I'd like to mention here that my brother despises found-footage films, so for him to suggest that genre kind of speaks volumes. Anywho- like I said, I fully expected to hate this movie. The Exorcist is my favorite movie (not just favorite horror movie) of all time, and it really annoys me when studios are like, 'Well, The Exorcist worked, so let's pick those bones and see how much money we make!!'. I didn't get that feeling from The Last Exorcism.

 

The main character, Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) is basically a charlatan, but the movie makes us root for him. From the get go, this movie kind of had a self awareness. There's even a part where Cotton Marcus discusses why the Roman Catholics have the monopoly on exorcisms (“They had the movie…..”). The acting is surprisingly good. Fabian, Ashley Bell (Nell Sweetzer), and the rest of the Sweetzer family do a fantastic job. I'd put Bell's performance in the same realm (not as good or better…just in the ballpark) with that of Linda Blair (I know, heresy! Let's hope they don't send Father Lamont after me… :P) only due to the fact that she went from sugary sweet little country girl to evil, ravenous demon possessed like *snap* that. Fabian is not much different. You could tell he threw himself into the role, and did a damn fantastic job (again, definitely not as good as Jason Miller, but he was in the ballpark a few times).

 

The only thing that hinders me is what hinders a lot of people: the ending. Now, to be clear, I didn't hate the ending. In fact, save for a few things, I really, really liked it. The one thing that bothered me was demon-baby. Take out demon-baby (and the Blair Witch-esque running scene in the last minute or two) and the ending was brilliant. Throughout the movie I suspected the father, I suspected the brother, not once did I suspect the pastor of the church they used to attend. I suspected that the earlier dialogue in the film about the occult would prove to be true, but the pastor as the ring leader? Totally threw me for a loop, but I think they could have achieved the same shocking effect without including demon-baby. I feel like that was kind of a cop-out. They could have easily 'summoned' the demon if indeed s/he/it was inside Nell. Why not just have her be actual pregnant with the guilt and the shame and the etc? But the last scene with Caleb?! That was friggin' scary.

 

At any rate, I won't go into a super in-depth review since this is only the first time I've seen the movie. I can honestly say that this is the second modern horror film that legitimately scared me, and that's a hard thing to do. I saw the 'scariest movie of the decade' (Paranormal Activity) and that one had kind of an affect (well…..okay, I left my TV on for a night…) The Last Exorcism actually left me feeling unnerved and a little uncomfortable for a few days. If I give The Exorcist a 9.5/10, I think The Last Exorcism deserves a 7.5-8.0/10. If you're like me, and you avoided this one like the plague because of your love for The Exorcist, see it with low expectations, expect a kind of silly (and kind of really scary) ending. Sure it's cashing in on the genre, but I believe it does so in a tasteful way. Enjoy, and Happy Halloween everyone! Would sure love to hear everyone's thoughts: love it? hate it? neutral?