Reviewed by Geno McGahee
I typically enjoy the fake documentary horror film. I liked THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and CLOVERFIELD, and if it’s done right, you get to suspend your disbelief and really enjoy it as if it were real. In THE LAST EXORCISM, we have another one of these fake horror documentaries, concerning a preacher that is anti-exorcism due to the death of a child that was killed during one.
The Reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) was brought up in the church by his father and isn’t convinced of his faith anymore. In fact, he sees the exorcism racket as a way to turn a buck and charges those that believe that they are possessed, doing a fake theatrical production for them and convincing them that they are healed. For the most part, it works, but when there is a real possession, the bullshit won’t work.
Nell (Ashley Bell) is a 16 year old farm girl, home schooled by her overly religious father, Louis (Louis Herthum). Louis believes that his daughter is possessed by the devil himself and reaches out to Marcus for help and he obliges. He comes down and does his tricks to fool those involved that he is really removing a demon and declares that Nell is fine, but it doesn’t fix anything.
Nell shows up in Cotton’s hotel room, disoriented, and it later surfaces that she is pregnant. Louis believes that she was defiled by the devil, but not Marcus. He believes that Nell is suffering from shame and that is her problem and that she had met a boy and got knocked up. She eventually mentions the boy, and out of curiosity, Marcus goes to the bar to visit the kid on his way out of town.
The story falls apart when it comes out that the boy is actually into dudes. Nell was lying. Marcus and his crew head back to the farmhouse and are in for an incredible and shocking surprise.
The ending of this movie is a big payoff. I enjoyed this movie from start to finish and I especially loved the conclusion. I won’t give it away, but if you don’t know how it ends, watch it. You will love it.
THE LAST EXORCISM is a great horror movie. The acting was very good, story very compelling, and ending very memorable. I highly recommend it.
Scared Stiff Ratinng: 8/10. The devil knocked’er up.
I thought this was a good film but I felt it lacked in a few areas
1) not enough possession
2) I didn’t like the mockumentary style as I think it’s lazy film-making
3) I thought the last scene before the credits rolled was cheap and has been done too many times
Otherwise, I thought the plot was cool. The twist was neat and the acting was great.