Review: THE LAST EXORCISM - let's hope so, anyway
rating: 1
Exorcists. Is there a more exploited group of people in horror movies? With the obvious exception of vampires calm down Twilight fans exorcists are a rare group of people who could exclusively inhabit their own shelf in a video store; with seven films in The Exorcist series alone, 2003s Exorcism and dont forget 2005s surprisingly good The Exorcism of Emily Rose, the practitioners and the practice of this paranormal activity seem to continue to enthrall filmmakers and filmgoers alike almost forty years after William Freidkins seminal masterpiece. This latest installment to the 'movies with exorcism in the title takes a novel approach of exploring the practice of exorcism through the form of mockumentary. Unfortunately the filmmakers forget this half way through and the result is a film, which doesnt know what it is that is low on shocks and high on clichés. The Last Exorcism is a mockumentary in the fashion of The Blair Witch Project, produced by Hostel director and Tarantino frat boy Eli I dont make torture porn Roth, and directed by German born rookie Daniel Stamm. It tells the story Cotton Marcus, a preacher turned exorcist, who having lost his faith in God and become disillusioned with his profession has agreed to allow a documentary crew to film his last exorcism with the goal of unmasking the practice for the scam that it really is. The subject for his last exorcism - an innocent farmers daughter named Nell, who according to her recently windowed father has been slaughtering the livestock at night. Cotton sets about his work, showing us the tools of his trade: a crucifix rigged to shoot out smoke, a sound device rigged with hundreds of demonic sound effects, chemicals to make water bubble and his own God-given performance skills. He orchestrates a by-the-numbers exorcism, the demon is exorcised, the farmers mind is put at ease, $500 dollars exchanges hands and Cotton sets off home. But this time, of course, the demon is real and remains inside Nell who tracks Cotton down and forces him to rediscover his faith in order to face for the first time a real exorcism. You could be forgiven for sighing at the pitch of this film or even after watching the trailer; a young girl speaking in a deep, demonic voice while contorting her body and spitting in the face or a crucifix-wielding priest feels like well traveled terrain. And yet there are aspects to praise in The Last Exorcism; the uncovering of the scam of exorcism was fascinating, the way in which the true cause of Nells behavior is strung out is she mentally unstable? Is it the drugs she has been prescribed? keeps the audience guessing. There are also some solid shocks and moments of cringe-in-your-seat gore, most notably the scene in which the demon that is possessing Nell says he will leave if they can remain silent for ten seconds, and then proceeds to do the count down, snapping a finger for every second. The character of Cotton is a deep and complex one: a charming preacher and family man struggling to pay his familys medical bills but not prepared to do so by scamming God-fearing people any longer. His arch from being disillusioned with his profession and faith to having to confront it head on is a strong one, but ultimately too predictable. On the whole, the film lacks an original hook and peters out into an ending that is underdeveloped, rushed and clichéd. One fellow cinemagoer remarked, Was that it? when the end credits rolled. My sentiments exactly.
The films fatal flaw is that it fails to present a cohesive piece of work; the dialogue sounds too scripted, too often, the camerawork goes from rough and jarring to stylistic and cinematic and the injection of non-diegetic music and sound to scenes of tension or action is out of place in a mockumentary and apart from drawing the audience away from the concept that what we are watching is real footage also adds to the belief that the filmmakers didnt understand the genre they were operating in or didnt have faith in their work. Furthermore horrormentaries such as The Blair Witch Project are most effective when the audience buy into the belief the people we are presented with are real people; Patrick Fabian (Cotton Marcus) looks and acts like an actor from TV, which might have something to do with the fact he has over eighty TV credits to his name. While the quality of acting on the whole is unconvincing, ultimately because it seems ill suited to a mockumentary, honourable mention should be given to Ashley Bell, the young actress who plays the possessed; but not for the scenes where she is contorting her body in a way Linda Blair would be proud of, but for her believable presentation of a naïve, innocent, country girl. The excitement and joy she exhibits when she is given a second hand pair of crimson Doc Marten boots from the documentary producer seems heartfelt and the panic and terror she shows when things around her are getting paranormal seems genuine and invokes more fear than many of the other chill tactics employed by the filmmakers. If you want to watch a movie about exorcists/ exorcisms there are better ones out there; likewise if you want to learn more about this sect of the priesthood there are many documentaries and books that are far more informative than The Last Exorcism, which I for one hope will be the last movie for sometime to deal with the exorcism of demons or other spiritual entities from unassuming souls. The Last Exorcism opens in the U.K. this Friday.