The Last Exorcism Movie Review

Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian, channeling Aaron Eckhart at his most roguishly charming)  is an Exorcist.  He's a former televangelist, who has been doing backwoods exorcisms since he was a kid, assisting his preacher father.  He really doesn't believe in them, thinks they do more harm than good - especially when there are children involved, but he uses a lot of hokey special FX (he even rigs a crucifix to blow smoke) to make his money and move on. 

Now he's the subject of a documentary, covering his lack of faith and the dangers of doing these exorcisms. The documentary will conclude with Cotton taking on one last case.   At random, he picks his last exorcism out of his slush pile - one which will take him and the crew to Louisiana.

There's trouble on The Sweetzer Farm.  Cattle are dying and hardbitten farmer Louis (Louis Herthum) thinks his angelic teenage daughter Nell (an impressive Ashley Bell) is responsible.  The documentary crew led by the acerbic Iris follows Cotton, as he explores Louis' accusations. 

Nell's protective, skeptical brother Caleb (Caleb Jones) casts aspersions on his father - and Cotton's motives - while the local pastor (Tony Bentley) hints that Louis has not been quite right since the death of his wife.   The film's cast of unknowns is uniformly good and lend the film an 'anything goes' quality.  Because no one is a recognizable face or star, anything can happen to them.

THE LAST EXORCISM is the latest in the camcorder horror trend started by THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and, to its credit, is one of the best of the genre. It is indeed this year's PARANORMAL ACTIVITY - but it goes even further than that film in fashioning a fiendishly clever ending to wrap it all up.   For the more sensitive types reading this, the film avoids the vomit-inducing POV running scenes that BLAIR WITCH was infamous for.

Ashley Bell  is simultaneously sympathetic and scary as the young, waiflike Nell.  The petitie, brown-eyed farmgirl seems to be a victim, but then she manages to unnerve you with her unpredictable behavior.  For much of the film, you try to determine whether she is or isn't possessed - and a lot of viewers will be Googling the demon 'Abalom', just to be sure. 

The scene where she contorts herself during an exorcism and confronts Cotton is all the more impressive as Bell gives you a sense of a malevolent, otherworldly presence without a single drop of make-up, vocal enhancement or CG FX.  Ashley Bell's unbroken stare, trembling voice and erratic movements are far more effective than any CG construct.

As Cotton, Patrick Fabian makes his character breezy and likable, as he gradually grows more puzzled and afraid when he realizes that he may be in the presence of actual evil.  In a nice twist on the usual fake holy man character, this exposure to evil actually increases Cotton's resolve to get Nell help.  Louis Herthum makes the father an interesting enigma - you find yourself questioning his motives.      

The script by Huck Botko and Anfrew Gurland is clever; just when you think you have the film figured out, they throw another twist at you.  They also make you care about the characters. So much so, that you are truly invested in their ultimate fate. 

While it may look like an EXORCIST rip-off, director Daniel Stamm is far more ambitious than that - while he has nods to THE EXORCIST, BEYOND THE DOOR, other '70s Devil movies and even Jack Chick comics, he's fashioned a truly original, scary movie with an amazing, shocking climax--which plays fair with viewers and haunts you long after the movie. 

THE LAST EXORCISM is all the more impressive, as Stamm has done this weird, original film in an age glutted with glossy, soulless, million dollar remakes of classic horror.  Producer Eli Roth proves he can disturb you with a PG-13 rating. As with Roth's horror films, there is also a blackly comic sensibility to the proceedings.  Cinematographer Zoltan Honti's effective camera work has you checking the corners of every frame to make sure you're 'safe'.  (Listen for John Kassir - TALES FROM THE CRYPT's Cryptkeeper as one of the ADR voices.)

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Reviewed by Pat Jankiewicz