The Last Exorcism

Exorcism movies always seem to be popular. Ever since we were graced with arguably still the best movie of its type The Exorcist the horror genre has been inundated with endless clones and movies that try to use Exorcism as the main theme. The whole idea seems to be that this is a struggle to save a god fairing innocent against the evils of the Devil and his demons. What if we were given a movie that takes a different view? That looks at a preacher losing his faith who promises to do that Last Exorcism before quitting the practice all together?

This is what is taking place with Cotton Marcus. Having been in the church for most of his life he start to have a crisis of faith and questions the power of the church in his life. As a practising Exorcist he decides to do one Last Exorcism and allows a documentary crew to record how it is done. Showing them all the tricks of the trade and how the Exorcism is really all an elaborate fake made to make money off the families he goes to visit we see just why he has an absence of faith, what he’s doing is not real. The problem Cotton has though is that this last exorcism may just be the where he needs all of his faith if he and the people around him are to survive.

What interested me in The Last Exorcism is the fact it is more an investigation into the preachers lack of faith than the actual exorcism. He just wants to get out there, do his act get paid and hopefully help the family that he’s going to visit. In his eyes he’s not conning these people but providing a service where the actual Exorcism is bluffing the person afflicted into believing they are cured, which shows just how fake the practice of the Exorcism is. This is of course mentioned in the original Exorcist movie as the very act of the Exorcism is said to be shock treatment to push the “possessed” person to psychologically believe that the “demon” they have in their body is now gone. Of course other things happen in this movie to make the preacher re-question just what is going on with the girl he is meant to be helping and of course, in the end he may need to actually have his faith to save her.

I really thought Patrick Fabian did a good job as Cotton Marcus, he really helped create the character as a man who is questioning just what he has been doing for all the years he has been with the church. His almost arrogant explanation of the Exorcism he prepares shows that in his view there is no real “act of God” in what he does, it’s all about putting on a show for the family he is providing a service for. In the end it’s all about the money for him and Patrick Fabian makes the preacher a believable and flawed character, especially when things start to go strange and he realises he may actually have to save the girl. Ashley Bell as the girl Nell Sweetzer is also playing a good part in this movie. In her “normal” state she comes across as a sweet naive country girl but is also able to turn that character into the demonic creature when needed, she’s no Linda Blair but she’s good enough for what she has to do in this movie.

As much as the movie interested me, it is flawed though. The ending (which I won’t spoil) does feel like it’s taking an easy route, even if it does so in the belief it is doing something quite unique. Some could argue it’s an “old school” style ending that harkens back to the Hammer days but I think it could have been handled better. For what it is, which is an Exorcism Blair Witch style it’s entertaining and quite fun but it’s not original. If the ending was handled better I may change my mind but it promised a lot with the questioning of faith then went down the wrong route for me. I’m sure others will feel differently though.

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