Movie Review: The Last Exorcism

Starring:  Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum

Director/Producer: Daniel Stamm/Eli Roth

Genre:  Horror

Synopsis:  Ready to expose his miraculous deeds as mere trickery, Rev. Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) invites a documentary crew to film his final exorcism. But when the devil actually possesses a girl's body, Marcus must regain his faith and engage in the fight of his life. Produced by Eli Roth and directed by Daniel Stamm, this frighteningly realistic horror movie also stars Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr and Louis Herthum.

Ratings (out of 5 stars): 

Average Rating: 3.1
My Rating: 2

The Trailer:



My Review:

The Last Exorcism tries to be an homage to arguably some of the best horror films ever made: Rosemary's Baby, The Blair Witch Project and of course The Exorcist itself. However, where all three of those movies succeeded is sadly where The Last Exorcism failed and miserably so. In my opinion, Blair Witch was the only movie ever truly successful using the mockumentary style because when it originally came out moviegoers believed those events had actually taken place. It wasn't until months later that we found out it was all a hoax. From the get-go the director makes it extremely obvious that The Last Exorcism is a mocumentary, therefore all events that follow are not to be believed. This mentality immediately kills the movie immediately and viewers can't take the film seriously. Horror fans want to get scared, but when you know that the whole thing is fake, it really takes all the fun out of it. I think these types of films are much better when the audience is allowed to suspend their own sense of disbelief. That is precisely why The Exorcist was so wildly popular. What was frustrating about The Last Exorcist is that it doesn't treat the viewer with dignity or respect. It's almost as if the director is insulting us for being intrigued about the films very subject matter. I for one did not appreciate fraudulent aspect of the reverend at all. In the Exorcist Father Damien was losing his faith, just like Rev. Cotton in this film. The difference is that you sympathized with Damien's plight. He was able to make the audience feel that he really wanted to believe and that by assisting Father Merrin to save Regan that he could perhaps redeem himself. In The Last Exorcist, there was no attempt at all to perform a real exorcism or to help this girl. No holy water, no praying, nothing. The Rosemary's Baby Type ending appears to be a pathetic last minute throw in. It's poorly executed, nonsensical and a complete insult to the Roman Polanski classic.  Pass on this one an wait for the DVD.  There will be much better horror films coming out right around Halloween.