The Last Exorcism Movie Review

8/9/2019 The Last Exorcism Movie Review

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The Last ExorcismMovie Review

© 2010 by Sportscar Projects Ltd.



The Last ExorcismAug 28, 2010

If there is a God, then hear my plea to make this truly, verily the Last Exorcism! Mix one son of a preacher man with a Michael Mooredocumentary without laughs, add a wacked-out ending and you have The Last Exorcism , a claustrophobic con job on faith, demons and farmanimals.

One Word Movie Review: Lame

The Last Exorcism is a pseudo-documentary about a preacherwho’s had enough of the fakery and falsehoods about exorcismthat he decides to expose the con job to the world. Despite thetreasured book of demons handed down through generations inhis family, Preacher Cotton Marcus (yes, he is the son of apreacher man) has lost his faith in good time religion. His gift ofinspirational talk has been honed since the age of 10 but arecent suffocating death of a boy the same age as his own sonhas changed his attitude about the noble rites of demon-purgingfor dollars. He hires a documentary crew and picks a randomletter from his exorcism pile to use as the subject of his expose.Now, what are the odds that this one letter is a plea for helpfrom a family actually torn by a real demon possession? Webetter hope so or this is just another Michael Moore story wherethe ending is telegraphed up front.

Off we go from Baton Rouge to the backwater farms of rural Louisiana wherevoodoo, UFO’s, cults and the devil are friendly neighbors , all buying gas andshopping at the same grocery store. Shot through the narrow lens of a handheldcamera and bedeviled by frequent power failures, the story is told through shaky,low-light scenes of increasing irritation and confusion. If this upsets you, wait forthe final shot which reminds one of still-frame poignant ground-level fade-outsfrom poor war zone cameramen who take one for the network, down but stillshooting.

The subject of the demonization is Nell Sweetzer (get it?), a 16-year-old girl withan angel face and a nightly habit of slaughtering livestock which has made herdad a little upset. Of course, the two choices are clear: either exorcise thedemon inside the girl or shoot her with both barrels. This is the logic of isolatedhome-schooling in this part of Louisiana.

Preacher Marcus enters the camera frame in his slick linen suit and suitcase oftrickery and conducts the rousing exorcism. He takes his cash and departs, untilthe unexpected appearance of Nell in his motel room later that night. From there,all Devil hell breaks loose and we move inevitably towards the ridiculous endingwhich I officially warn you about right now.



As the mostly female audience enjoyed the movie, especially the thought ofwalking home in the dark afterwards, who am I to cast the evil eye on this film?It has a few jumpy moments if you really dig the claustrophobic camera work,but it is all too contrived and silly by the end to resonate as a classic “demon inyour pants ” yarn you’d feel compelled to recommend to perfect strangers.

The StoryThe story starts off promising with Preacher Marcus shaving in his bathroom,willing to show us the inside world of religious faith and farce. We meet himand his family, his father and the good book (of demons – in Latin so you knowit’s the real thing). Marcus reveals himself as a non -believer and his truepurpose to expose the exorcism sham which seems to be a growth industry.The Vatican has 300 exorcists ready to engage Satan’s minions, don’t youknow!

So, this banana-bread-loving Preacher hits the road to save Nell (rhymes withHell) from the demon Abalom, her grieving, gun-toting dad and Caleb, herseriously psycho brother. Her mother has passed away from cancer two yearsago, which is always problematic for a young girl alone on an isolated farm.Preacher Marcus and his camera crew (a tough chick and a skittishcameraman) descend on the Sweetzer clan and document the exorcism,including a behind-the-scenes reveal of how Marcus fakes the rattling picturesand demon voices.

From here, we just know the demon is still exercising squatter’s ri ghts in Nell’ssoul. Gradually, our hero becomes a believer, then not, then a believer againas we learn more about Nell and her medical condition, her small group offriends and Pastor Manley of the local church. Mix well, add the flames of Helland a blood altar and on we go to the big finish.

The Last Exorcism makes the most of a small budget but cheats theaudience with the ending. Agree or not, this could have been something reallyspecial but falls way short as the violins screech over the end credits. Pleasecomment if you like or dislike the ending.

The Genre

The creepy low-budget suspense/horror genre has experienced a renaissancesince the phenomenal success of The Blair Witch Project in 1999. Made forunder $100,000, the film made a quar ter of a billion dollars worldwide. Now that’ssome return on your investment.

Last year’s Paranomal Activity was another low budget creepy story that

grossed almost $200 million. So, the economic numbers are staggering formovies which use low lightin g and cheap camera effects to narrow the audience’ svision and cast just enough shadow to scare their pants off.

The Last Exorcism aspires to the same box office success but I think the endingwill work against it, along with the slow going up front as we follow the Preacheraround as he sets up his Michael Moore con game.



The Overall Quality

The Last Exorcism succeeds in the two essential elements needed to make this storywork. Patrick Fabian is excellent as Preacher Marcus, a smooth talker with anevangelical streak and Ashley Bell plays the sweet, sinister Nell with the gymnastic flairof a circus contortionist. The third star is the camera, which provides the tunnel-visionparanoia so essential to delivering the creeps.

The rest of the film elem ents are basic. There isn’t a music track, so the silence works just as well to r amp up the “uh -oh” factor just before something horrible happens. Theblood and gore is restrained, the total opposite of say, Piranha 3D .

In the great movie tradition of good vs. evil, this movie is not a contender for epic scaleor macabre effects. It is a simple character study and a con act on several levels,some more entertaining than others.

Movie/Market Analysis

The movie mood for audiences leaving the theater is Negative , with high rip-off factor basedon the ending and the slow delivery of thrills for your movie dollar, vs. the promise of the adsand trailers.

MarketBOB’s sentiment indicators, the GQS (Genre, Quality, Story) rate The Last Exorcism an emotional BEAR . This movie relies on the isolation and simple minds of rural folk to makethe story work. It uses the con of smooth talking and showmanship to separate good-faithbelievers from their money. You could say all marketing is based on this principle but it isunsettling to see behind the curtain as the act is played out. If only The Last Exorcism trulypurged the devil out of all of us and made us honest believers in the goodness of our fellowman. Nope. We’re all tempted and suckered and play ing the fool yet again.

Craig Forgrave (MarketBOB)

For the latest reviews and analysis of movies andtheir impact on market psychology, go tohttp://www.marketbob.com/ For all my books andwriting projects, drop by my writer site http://www.cforgrave.com/ and my home

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