10 Horror Movie Characters Punished For Not Believing

8. Cotton Marcus - The Last Exorcism

Jaws 2 Amity Town Council
Lionsgate

For The Last Exorcism's Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), belief is something he struggles to have in regards to several things.

This reverend lost his faith in religion after his son was born ill, and since then he's made a career from carrying out sham exorcisms on people who claim to be possessed but actually aren't. But when Father Marcus comes across the case of Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell), he's in for a rude awakening.

After Nell's father contacts Marcus with concerns that his daughter is possessed and has slaughtered his livestock, Cotton and a documentary film crew head out to the Sweetzer farm to showcase how the pregnant Nell's issues are psychological or fabricated rather than the result of possession.

As The Last Exorcism progresses, it's revealed that Nell is indeed plagued by a demon and that the majority of her local town are involved in a cult - which results in Ashley Bell's character giving birth to some inhuman creature in order to please them.

By the time Father Marcus realises this, it's too late, with him swarmed by this cult while he begs for assistance from a god he has long stopped believing in.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.