I love it when I go to see a film and it takes me completely by surprise, when the film I am watching gives me something better than what I expected. Such is the case with the new movie The Last Exorcism. I was given an extremely well written documentary-style film with more intentional humor than most comedies that have come out this year. If you have seen the trailers for The Last Exorcism, things like humor and great acting are not the first things to enter into your mind. If you go into this film just looking to get a good scare, that’s not really what you are going to get. This movie caught me off guard in the same way Splice did earlier this year.
The first thing I have to say is that actor Patrick Fabian is terrific and effective as the faith-doubting evangelical minister Cotton Marcus who believes that the practice of exorcisms is a complete scam. People (mainly children) are being harmed and in some cases killed in the middle of the process. He decides to film a documentary to prove how wrong these exorcisms are. Fabian gives his character energy, charm and humanity. In one scene while giving a sermon in church, he preaches a banana bread recipe to prove a point that it does not matter what he says in church, people are listening to his delivery, not his words.
Cotton decides to travel to Georgia and visit the Sweetzer family when he gets a letter from Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum) that his daughter is possessed by a demon. Cotton’s film crew is along for the ride and we watch the whole movie from the cameraman’s point of view. I also must say that aside from a couple of scenes involving running, the whole shaky camera thing is under control. You should not get a headache while watching this movie.
The children of the Sweetzer family are Caleb (Caleb Landry Jones) Nell (Ashley Bell). When we first meet Nell, she is a very polite and sweet teenage girl. Nell and her brother have been home schooled by their father since they lost their mother to cancer. Louis decided to keep his children away from the influences of the outside world.
Cotton does not believe that Nell is really possessed and he even performs a fake exorcism to prove it for his film. After that, things get even worse. Cotton and his film crew believe that Nell is psychotic not possessed. Throughout the film, we are questioning what’s really going on.
Ashley Bell is mesmerizing as Nell. When she is not possessed or crazy, she is sweet but scared & confused. You do not feel like her character is pretending, you believe her. When she is in her other state, her stare is downright creepy.
There are a few little scary moments in The Last Exorcism but the movie is not about the scares, it’s about the building tension and self questioning. I am sure a majority of the people who see The Last Exorcism will feel cheated by the ending we are given, but I wasn’t. I feel the film was ended on the right note. It’s not often that we get such a well crafted and well acted horror film, so I suggest you give it a chance, even if you think the film looks too scary from the trailers, trust me…it’s worth the risk.
By: Marc Ferman
