Release Date (UK DVD) – 27th December
Certificate (UK) – 18
Country – USA
Runtime – 87 mins
Director - Daniel Stamm
Starring – Ashley Bell, Patrick Fabian
Believable acting, gripping suspense, and well-timed humour…so what went wrong?
A faux documentary, The Last Exorcism’s primary character is Reverend Cotton Marcus- a faithless preacher with an agenda to expose the exorcism process as nothing but a placebo to the affected. After receiving a plea from the distressed god-fearing Sweetzer family in Louisiana, we follow Reverend Cotton and his two-man crew through the haunting and desolate landscape of the Deep South. He arrives and meets teenager Nell, and after a short diagnostic process assures her family that an exorcism will be required. He prepares her bedroom with candles, bibles and suchlike whilst throwing in a few of his own touches, complete with a hidden ipod wailing demonic sounds and a cleverly engineered ‘steaming’ crucifix. This prefabricated and humorous ceremony convinces both family and Nell that she is no longer ‘with demon’ and showman Cotton counts his money and leaves.
His cocky attitude and charisma create great suspense as the audience excitedly anticipates the rug being pulled from beneath him. And when Nell unexpectedly turns up in his motel room after dark we get an inkling of what lies ahead…a blood-soaked series of scary night-time attacks by the pale and disturbed shark-eyed adolescent.
It’s after this that all the cleverly mastered, slow building and restrained suspense diminishes and the film rapidly spirals into a clichéd montage of horror genre rip offs. Concluding with a no holds barred ending enhanced with special effects I’m left angered by the films rejection of its previously well crafted subtle restraint and super-natural themes, and its decision to conform to the modern horror genre’s tendency to reveal all. It was film critic Ivan Butler’s belief that true terror remains in the unseen, inviting ones own imagination to fill in the gaps. I suspect in the case of The Last Exorcism any self-made conclusion would have been far more haunting than the version Daniel Stamm and Co fed to me.
Seemingly a modernised Rosemary’s Baby, the film failed to deliver an original or clever resolution, and leaving me with a bitter taste in my mouth I conclude it to be nothing more than a diluted Exorcist with a Blair Witch meets Paranormal Activity aesthetic. The Last Exorcism, like so many of its predecessors, fails to meet the standards set by Blatty in ’73 and forces me to question whether there is any new and exciting ground for the possession film to tread.
Despite this, the DVD offers an interesting and comprehensive collection of extras for any exorcism film enthusiasts. Featurettes “The Devil You Know: The Making of The Last Exorcism” and “Real Stories of Exorcism” make for worthy viewing, as do (rather unusually) the producer and director’s audio commentaries, which reveal the filmmakers acknowledgment of a strong audience divide at the films ending, most notably within European screenings. Bearing this and my own dissatisfaction in mind maybe an alternative ending would have proved valuable.
Published on thefilmpilgrim.com
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