Director: Daniel Stamm
Writing Credits: Huck Botco and
Andrew Gurland
Cinematography: Zoltan Honti
Music: Nathan Barr
Editing: Shilpa Sahi
Production Design:
Andrew W. Bofinger
Cast
Cotton Marcus Patrick Fabian
Nell Sweetzer Ashley Bell
Louis Sweetzer Louis Herthum
Iris Bahr
Iris Reisen
Daniel Moskowitz Adam Grimes
Caleb Sweetzer Caleb Landry Jones
Pastor Manley Tony Bentley
Becky Fly Becky Davis
There is a spoiler for the end of the film.
This is a review of
“The Last Exorcism”, which I like. It is
not a review of “The Last Exorcism, Part 2” which I am embarrassed to
admit I rented. At least I only spent $1.20 for the rental, however I would
love to receive a refund. If I ever meet
any of the producers of “Part 2” I will insist they fork it over. The title doesn’t even make sense – think
about it. “Part 2” sucks on toast and will not receive any further
acknowledgement from me.
When I saw the words “The
Last Exorcism” on the poster advertising this movie before its release I
thought, “Really? Do you promise?” In spite of my love of horror in general and
exorcism movies in particular I skipped this one. Most horror movies today are so silly and
poorly made that they are at the very least disappointing, and at worst I would
cheerfully make a pact with Satan if it would get me out of the theater a
little faster. I finally succumbed to
devilish temptation and caught up with “The Last Exorcism” recently on DVD and
now I am sorry that I ignored it in the theater. It’s pretty terrific – 90% of it, at least. For
me the ending is a bit of a head scratching let down.
In this
pseudo-documentary we meet Cotton Marcus, a bible thumping evangelical minister,
his wife and young son. He has been a minister since he was a boy (preachers
and exorcists run in the family) and is good at what he does. Cotton has invited a film crew to follow him
and document his work. The twist is that
Cotton lost his faith after his son’s medical condition was cured through the
power of science, not through the power of God. Despite his lack of faith he
has continued to perform exorcisms since it is the only way he knows to make a
living. However he believes that exorcisms do much more harm than good and wants
to expose the practice for the racket it is. His act incorporates magic tricks to convince his
customers of what they already believe, e.g. adding something to the water in
which a victim had her feet in order to make it “boil”, using recorded demon
voices, fishing line to manipulate the furniture and adding something to his
crucifix to make it smoke.
He gets most of his business through the mail; desperate people begging him to relieve them of the demons besieging their families. He responds to a plea from a farmer who believes his daughter Nell is possessed and killing his animals. Cotton sees this as a perfect opportunity to showcase his talent.
At the farm Cotton does
his stuff and it appears to succeed until later when Nell turns up at his
motel, deeply disturbed and suffering. A repeat exorcism is performed, though
the possession is revealed to be a delusion on Nell’s part. After a medical checkup finds she is pregnant
Nell confesses that she was seduced by a local boy. The family’s former
minister is called in to comfort and guide this broken family. Cotton et al
leave secure that all will be well. Unfortunately, more information proves that
the local boy could not have impregnated Nell, so Cotton is determined to find
the truth.
Now for the SPOILER
ALERT!! and my re-write of the last
scene of the movie. The ending as is -
Cotton and his crew return yet again to the farm. They have come back to do… what, I don’t
know. Finding the house empty and
satanic symbols drawn on the walls they head out to the field where a huge bonfire
is burning. The minister is there dressed
in a hooded robe leading a satanic ritual surrounded by cultists. Nell is lying on a table screaming while the
minister’s assistant acts as midwife to a demon birth. The red, spiked, screeching thing she appears
to pull out of Nell is thrown into the bonfire which makes the flames burst
into a huge conflagration. Cotton and
the crew are horrified by what they see and the crew sensibly (if somewhat belatedly)
makes a run for it. Cotton seems to find
his faith and approaches the fire with his cross held high, calling out the
demon to let the girl go. He and his crew are killed by the cultists….roll
credits. The finale leads us to the
conclusion that everything we have witnessed has indeed been supernatural; the
demon impregnated Nell and has been reborn or something, the cult has won, etc.
As a movie-goer I enjoy a supernatural story. I don’t want the whole shebang to turn out to be a hoax and have a rational explanation. Supernatural is fun, rational explanations are boring and a cop out (see "Mark of “the Vampire”). Having said that, I have a problem with the ending of this film. It feels rushed and forced as if the writers had written themselves into a corner and had to come up with something, anything, to wrap up. In this case it feels as if the supernatural explanation is the cop out.
AND DON’T EVEN TALK TO
ME ABOUT PART 2.
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