The Last Exorcism (C or 2/4 stars)
'The Last Exorcism' is a mockumentary/horror film directed by Daniel Stamm. Mockumentary, you ask? Yes, meaning: the whole thing is a fake truth. The film's intent is to scare you by showing the very believable things that occur on "documentary" footage. Problem is - with documentaries in this film genre - the scares just don't work. This film surmises a situation where charismatic, but troubled evangelist/exorcist Rev. Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) sets-out to perform his "last exorcism". Cotton is accompanied by a crew of 2 documentarians: filmmaker Iris Reisen (Iris Bahr) & her cameraman (whom we never see). During the intro, Cotton reveals that he has lost his faith (when seeing injustices done/happening to children). Furthermore, he believes his exorcisms are bull, too.
And so, he wants to get the process on film as a way to prove just how fake said exorcisms are. The exorcism he chooses to film involves a 16 yr. old girl named Nell (Ashley Bell), who lives in the backwoods of Louisiana {yuck} with her super religious father, Louis (Louis Herthum), & her combustible brother, Caleb (Caleb Landry Jones). Cotton expects to perform this last exorcism as routinely as usual. But his confidence gets shaken once legitimately strange events start occurring in the wake of his successful faux-exorcism; and he starts to wonder if he's dealing with only a severely disturbed situation OR whether there might be something truly diabolical/supernatural at hand. Terror & tragedy ensues.
'The Last Exorcism' isn't a bad film. I mildly enjoyed the set-up. The midsection alternates btwn. boring & intriguing. The crazier the story gets (near the end), the less enthused I got. And overall ... the movie just. isn't. scary. How could it be? The whole thing is fake. Fake sermoning. Fake tension. Fake family. Fake demonic girl. Fake looks that she gives. Fake scared reactions. Fake climax (however pyrotechnic-fun it was). I could go on & on. If this was a straight fiction movie about exorcism ... that's one thing. But this is a fake documentary, so the scares that are supposed to feel real (like they did in Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, etc.) don't come across, at all. Our suspension of disbelief is at a Zero because we know that everything is mocking a documentary.
Back to the movie, itself. There are some freaky sights (Nell's neck & back twisting, etc.). But there's absolutely nothing in here that we haven't seen before in countless demonic/exorcism movies. There's a mystery about whether or not the awful things that are happening to Nell are supernatural or if she's a sexual deviant, or if her folks are wicked fundamentalists. By the time the climax comes, you know the answer. And though the climax is well-filmed (if silly), knowing a definitive answer lessened the impact more than it already was (for me). And as far as the acting goes, Patrick Fabian is stellar. But Ashley Bell, as Nell, just looks like she's playing the part of a girl who's supposed to lose her proverbial sh*t. The sweetness early on; the blank stares into space when in catatonic state; the flipping out when the Devil may be inside of her, etc. It all looks so ... lame; because of the mockumentary framework. The pay-off(s) just aren't scary enough.
And so, he wants to get the process on film as a way to prove just how fake said exorcisms are. The exorcism he chooses to film involves a 16 yr. old girl named Nell (Ashley Bell), who lives in the backwoods of Louisiana {yuck} with her super religious father, Louis (Louis Herthum), & her combustible brother, Caleb (Caleb Landry Jones). Cotton expects to perform this last exorcism as routinely as usual. But his confidence gets shaken once legitimately strange events start occurring in the wake of his successful faux-exorcism; and he starts to wonder if he's dealing with only a severely disturbed situation OR whether there might be something truly diabolical/supernatural at hand. Terror & tragedy ensues.
'The Last Exorcism' isn't a bad film. I mildly enjoyed the set-up. The midsection alternates btwn. boring & intriguing. The crazier the story gets (near the end), the less enthused I got. And overall ... the movie just. isn't. scary. How could it be? The whole thing is fake. Fake sermoning. Fake tension. Fake family. Fake demonic girl. Fake looks that she gives. Fake scared reactions. Fake climax (however pyrotechnic-fun it was). I could go on & on. If this was a straight fiction movie about exorcism ... that's one thing. But this is a fake documentary, so the scares that are supposed to feel real (like they did in Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, etc.) don't come across, at all. Our suspension of disbelief is at a Zero because we know that everything is mocking a documentary.
Back to the movie, itself. There are some freaky sights (Nell's neck & back twisting, etc.). But there's absolutely nothing in here that we haven't seen before in countless demonic/exorcism movies. There's a mystery about whether or not the awful things that are happening to Nell are supernatural or if she's a sexual deviant, or if her folks are wicked fundamentalists. By the time the climax comes, you know the answer. And though the climax is well-filmed (if silly), knowing a definitive answer lessened the impact more than it already was (for me). And as far as the acting goes, Patrick Fabian is stellar. But Ashley Bell, as Nell, just looks like she's playing the part of a girl who's supposed to lose her proverbial sh*t. The sweetness early on; the blank stares into space when in catatonic state; the flipping out when the Devil may be inside of her, etc. It all looks so ... lame; because of the mockumentary framework. The pay-off(s) just aren't scary enough.