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The Last Exorcism
(2010)
Directed
by Daniel Stamm
 The
Last Exorcism is a found footage, mockumentary-style film
about a
disillusioned Anglican preacher and exorcist named Cotton Marcus.
Cotton comes from a long line of preachers and he cast out his first
demon when he was just ten-years-old. When he was older though, he
realised that he did not believe in God, the Devil or possession, but
he carried on with the show because he knew that the people who came to
him were believers and it was Cotton's opinion that he was delivering a
service to the people who needed it, in a way that they needed it, and
one way or another it worked. It paid well too.
Cotton reached a turning point when he read about an autistic child who
was killed during an exorcism. This shocked him so much that he decided
to ‘expose exorcism for the scam that it really is’ by performing one
last exorcism and allowing a film crew to film it. Unfortunately for
Cotton and the camera crew his last exorcism proves to be a little more
complicated than expected.
Nell Sweetzer appears to be a very sweet girl, but her father Louis is
convinced that she has the Devil in her and is killing his livestock.
Nell cannot remember disembowelling any cattle, but the amount of blood
that it splattered on her nightdress does tend to point the finger of
suspicion in her direction.
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Cotton goes ahead with his fake exorcism and, ever
the professional, he makes the process appear so convincing
that
everyone believes that Nell is cured. Cotton believes it as well and he
goes right on believing it until Nell turns up a few hours later in his
hotel room. How she got there, or even knew where to find him, is a
complete mystery, even to Nell.
After this unexpected turn of events Cotton suggests that Louis gets
some medical help for his daughter, but stethoscopes are not renowned
for their success rate when it comes to casting out evil spirits and
Louis is so convinced Nell is possessed that he tells Cotton that he
will save Nell himself. This convinces the preacher to repeat the
exorcism because Louis’ kind of exorcism would involve a shotgun.
This time Cotton takes things more seriously and attempts a real
exorcism while Nell busies herself snapping the bones in her fingers
and manages to bend her back in ways that backs are just not meant to
bend. Once again though, it appears that Cotton has got to the bottom
of the problem, but he is wrong. Things are not what they seem and by
the time Cotton realizes this it may just be too late for all concerned.
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The
Last Exorcism starts of pretty slow and for the first ten
minutes
it really does seem like you are
watching a very boring documentary about a born again atheist who want
to spill the beans about the trade that he hates. The story starts to
pick up though, when Cotton arrives at the Sweetzer Farm and much of
the action takes place between the two exorcisms. It turns out that
Nell is pregnant and at one point she tries to drown her doll in the
bath, something which is perhaps not the best indication of her fitness
for motherhood and the doll must feel that way too judging by all of
the screaming and crying it would seem to be doing. It’s a strange doll
all right and Nell is a strange girl. Heck this is strange film, but
once you get the boring bit at the beginning out of the way it is
pretty okay. The ending? It’s not bad, but it falls a long way short of
being brilliant and it leaves a few questions unanswered, but isn’t
that always the way with these found footage-type of films. The camera
can only show the viewer what it has seen and it always stops filming
when the last man (or woman) dies. Is it, as stated at the top of the
DVD cover, the scariest movie that you’ll see all year? Well I suppose
it might be if it’s the only horror film that you see all year. The
Last Exorcism might make you jump a few times, and will
probably
surprise you in places, but is it a serious contender for the scariest
movie? I don’t think so.
As with most DVDs these days there are some extras included:
 Audio
commentary with the producers
Audio
commentary with the Director
and actors (Ashley Bell, Patrick Fabian
and Louis Herthum)
Audio
commentary with witnesses to an exorcism (haunting victim, deliverance
minister and clinical psychologist)
The
Devil You Know (the making of The Last Exorcism)
Interview
with Daniel Stamm and Patrick Fabian
Interview
with Eli Roth and Ashley Bell
Ashley
Bell audition footage
Patrick
Fabian audition footage
Caleb
Landry Jones audition footage
Louis
Herthum audition footage
Protection
prayer
2009
Cannes Film Festival teaser trailer
Theatrical
trailer
Real
stories of exorcism
I was quite interested in
watching the real stories of exorcism, but the warning at the begging
of the footage changed my mind:
‘The
following documentary contains audio recordings which are purported to
include actual demon voices.
Our religious
consultants have advised that listening to these recordings could
result in adverse or unwanted contact with demonic forces.
They have suggested
that viewers recite the protection prayer that can be accessed from the
special features menu.’
Call me a wimp, but I read that little lot and then pressed eject.
Runtime: 87 mins
Certificate: 18 (UK), PG 13 (USA)
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