Riveting ‘The Last Exorcism’ Burns Its Way Under Your Skin

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CHICAGO – Working from inspirations as diverse as “The Exorcist” and Lars Von Trier, Daniel Stamm’s “The Last Exorcism” is one of the most interesting and accomplished horror debuts of the last few years. The final act gets a bit predictably messy but the fascinating slow burn of the first two more than makes up for any stumbling near the finish line.

The first thing horror fans should know is that “The Last Exorcism” is not quite what you think it is from the previews. Lionsgate has been pushing the action of the piece along with Executive Producer Eli Roth’s involvement to try and bring viewers in on opening weekend who might be looking for a “Saw”-esque gore-fest. The vast majority of “The Last Exorcism” is more of a mystery or even a character drama than what you might expect. It’s a subdued, intellectual study of a powerfully charismatic man who thinks he has all the answers and learns that he’s not even asking the right questions.

The Last Exorcism
The Last Exorcism
Photo credit: Lionsgate

In fact, “The Last Exorcism” is very low on typical horror set-pieces as Stamm and writers Huck Botko & Andrew Gurland concern themselves more with working their way under your skin than presenting you with eye-popping action. Personally, I’ve always found this kind of horror much more effective. What’s scarier — a trap-setting serial killer or the sound of a baby crying upstairs when you know you’re alone? Expertly directed and very well-performed, “The Last Exorcism” takes the cliches of the subgenre and makes them feel new again.

Minister Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) thinks he knows everything. The opening act of this faux documentary introduces us to a man with such control over his flock that he can coax an “Amen!” from them in response to anything as long as the inflection is right. For years, Marcus has been conducting exorcisms through the deep south but he’s pretty much a charlatan. He uses noise machines and crosses with fake smoke to sell the idea that he’s pushing out the devil, but he’s not painted as an evil man. As he says, if he relieves these people of their pain by exorcising what they perceive to be Satan, he’s done something good for them.

Having said that, the purpose of the fake doc is to show the man behind the curtain of the modern exorcism. And so Cotton and his crew randomly pick a letter from the pile of applicants asking for help and head down to document what they expect to be a straightforward sham. Naturally, things are about to get a little interesting for Mr. Marcus and his crew.

The Last Exorcism
The Last Exorcism
Photo credit: Lionsgate

They stumble into the very rural life of the Sweetzer family. Father Louis (Louis Sweetzer) needs Cotton’s help to save his only daughter Nell (Ashley Bell). The sweet, fragile girl has been waking up covered in blood while farm animals are being gutted overnight. How could someone who doesn’t look like she could swat a fly possibly cause such carnage? Something is clearly very wrong. But is it a tragic case of psychological damage or even abuse or is it something much darker? Cotton goes in assuming the former but the questions keep piling up.

Stamm and his writers wisely keep the audience guessing until the final minutes of the film. The ads that have been selling the film as a wall-to-wall horror fest are wrong because there’s a reading of the film that features nothing supernatural at all. Or it could all be the work of the devil. Of course, the movie still needs to build and the final act goes predictably haywire with some of the most stunningly effective sequences of the year, including some terrifying contortionism and otherwise creepy behavior by the fearless Bell. The young actress is simply fantastic in a physical and emotional performance that won’t get nearly the credit it deserves.

I love so much about “The Last Exorcism” that I wish the final act was a bit more refined. Without giving anything away, Stamm and his screenwriters take a few left turns and end up tripping over their own feet a bit. It’s almost expected that a movie like this one would shift gears a few times but it does so so eloquently in the first two acts that the haphazard nature of the finale is frustrating. I wish the movie ended on a “Whoa” more than a “Huh”. Despite those flaws, the majority of “The Last Exorcism” works and if the ending leaves people talking about what they just saw, that’s certainly something that hasn’t been the case with most horror movies this year.

“The Last Exorcism” stars Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, and Caleb Landry Jones. It was written by Huck Botko & Andrew Gurland. It was directed by Daniel Stamm. It is rated PG-13 and opened on August 27th, 2010.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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