THE LAST EXORCISM 2.5/4
Lionsgate, Rated PG-13
Tossing together mockumentary, evangelical fundamentalism, Rosemary’s Baby and spicing it up with a dash of devil worship, The Last Exorcism may be the first of its kind in weirdly overhauling the horror genre as Satan stalks the Bible Belt. All while managing a rather toned down PG-13 seal of approval.
[popup url=”http://assets.longislandpress.com/photos/gallery.php?gazpart=view&gazimage=6769″]
Click here to view more photos from The Last Exorcism[/popup]
Directed with playful menacing gusto by Daniel Stamm, The Last Exorcism effectively shakes up audience horror expectations. Part of that is due to shaky cam, a conceit of the genre that, if absent, would have eased up the trauma on viewer stomachs while still messing with their minds.
Patrick Fabian is Cotton Marcus, a Southern preacher since childhood who passionately followed his father into the calling and makes a comfortable living prying his frantic followers loose from the claws of Satan. But Cotton has been overwhelmed by doubting the honesty of his house calls and whether he’s just plying a lucrative trade.
So the despondent exorcist gathers a film crew and sets off on his next and hopefully final mission, to prove once and for all through visual evidence that demonic infestation is only in the mind of the possessed. He takes on Nell (Ashley Bell), the sheltered teenage daughter of devout Louisiana farmer Louise Sweetzer (Louis Herthum). The mission quickly turns into a forensic criminal investigation, and Cotton finds himself faced with leads that include homicidal inclinations, incest and assorted stereotypical Bible Belt insanity.
That insanity quickly gets the best of The Last Exorcism, as diabolical laughs and more sociopathic urges frequently threaten to upstage the horror, and once the credits roll, two things are certain: Considering the film’s indecisive resolution, future filmmakers with exorcism on their minds should have no problem continuing the idea, and—movie title be damned—Lucifer seems to once again get the last word.
