The Last Exorcism (2010)

Directed By: Daniel Stamm

Starring: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, & Caleb Landry Jones

MPAA Rating: PG-13

My Rating: 5 / 10

There are moments of brilliance in The Last Exorcism, thanks in no small part to fantastic performances from stars Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell. Bell delivers one of the most unsettling performances in modern horror, while Fabian exudes all of the obnoxious charm popular with backwoods preachers; and the movie benefits immensely from having them in their respective roles. Unfortunately, the moments of brilliance do not pan out to make a truly brilliant movie. The Last Exorcism is one of those run-of-the-mill horror films where quick-cuts and loud noises are substituted for genuine scares, and where you can tell the filmmakers were banking on one particular scene in order to shock and terrify. That scene is the now-infamous back-breaking scene. However, that scene, like the rest of the movie, isn't really scary, nor is it particularly groundbreaking. If you have ever seen another demonic possession movie (And, really, who hasn't?), then you have seen just about everything that The Last Exorcism has to offer. Oh, and did I mention that the ending sucks? Because it does.

Patrick Fabian plays Cotton Marcus, a former exorcist who has since dedicated his life to disproving the art, science, or whatever of exorcism. Bringing along a film crew, led by Iris (Iris Bahr), he heads to the Sweetzer family farm, where the daughter, Nell (Ashley Bell), is thought to be possessed. He hopes to stage a fake exorcism and cure her simply by convincing her that he removed the demon: evidence, he thinks, that will irrefutably disprove exorcisms. However, after the fake exorcism goes as planned (Random thought: I keep wanting to type "orgasm" instead of "exorcism" and I'm not sure why.), Nell's condition crumbles immensely. The soft, sweet girl is now almost always gone, replaced by a snarling, angry, and violent person. With his belief that demonic possession is competely fake beginning to fall apart all around him, Cotton agrees to perform one last exorcism to hopefully save Nell from whatever is inside of her. Oh, and did I mention that the ending sucks? I did? Well, it really does.

I think the biggest problem I had with The Last Exorcism is its unnecessary desire to complicate what is plaguing Nell. There are too many twists and turns about her condition to keep straight so, when the real deal rolls along (more on that later), it just doesn't mesh well with the rest of the movie. What's worse is that one of the explanations, which is so easily believed by Cotton and his team, is clearly not correct. Without spoiling anything, let's just say that what they believe is affecting Nell wouldn't make it possible for her to pull off the whole back-breaking shtick. Thankfully, that ending proves to be nothing more than a fake-out, but it still didn't change the fact that the characters had to be complete morons to fall for it. On top of that, I didn't buy this film's "found footage" approach. For some inexplicable reason, director Daniel Stamm includes a musical score in the background of many of the later scenes. It doesn't make any sense, and undercuts the film's attempts to make you feel that the footage is real. Also, as is true with all of these movies, I still can't figure out why the characters don't just dump the camera and run. There was a lot of that going on here. When I find a "found footage" film that manages to overcome that obstacle, I'll be as happy as a lark. Oh, and did I mention that the ending sucks? Yeah, it does...badly.

Now, let's talk about this ending. Have you heard that it sucks? Oh, you have! The ending is bad in both concept and execution. The final twist is uninspired and devoid of any real spark. You've definitely seen endings like this before. However, the way it is executed is completely unforgivable. Tacked-on and abrupt, it hardly makes sense and is bound to leave viewers with the dreaded "Is that all there is?" feeling. Had the film not wasted time with so many of the disappointing fake-out twists, it could have fleshed the real one out to be, at least, watchable. Alas, they don't...and so The Last Exorcism really suffers in its final moments. The movie deserved a better conclusion. But, as many mistakes as I felt The Last Exorcism made, my friends and I still enjoyed it. I greatly appreciated the stand-out performances and the film's early scenes, filled with witty satire and a keen sense of humor. Plus, Ashley Bell's descent from angelic young girl to demonic monster makes for a creepy and decidedly unsettling watch. She handles both aspects of her role, as well as everything in between, with such conviction that she really is one of the few truly scary horror movie villains in recent years. The Last Exorcism is worth it for her alone.