The Last Exorcism Review
Director Daniel Stamm returns to the exorcism horror genre with this year’s Prey for the Devil. He first tackled the subject in the hit 2010 film The Last Exorcism. As this The Last Exorcism review will show…it’s a very different take than Prey for the Devil appears to be, but it establishes Stamm as more than capable of handling what is an often messy and underwhelming film type.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
The Last Exorcism
Directed by Daniel Stamm
Written by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland
Starring Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell
The Last Exorcism Review
Movies about exorcism can be tough. I’m not sure if 1973’s The Exorcist was the first exorcism movie…but either way it may as well be. The Exorcist is a perfect movie. Well…ok so there is no such thing as a perfect movie but for the sake of argument we’ll label it a perfect movie about exorcism. Every movie about exorcism since 1973 exists in its impossibly long shadow.
One way that The Last Exorcism finds to stand out from the pack is by utilizing a mockumentary film style. This too can be hit and miss…but it’s mostly a real highlight here. Only at the end when things start to hit the fan does the fact someone is carrying a camera hurt the proceedings. Even then it makes a good artistic reasoning for it…you’re just too deep into wanting to see the goods to fully appreciate it.
At its core, The Last Exorcism, like The Exorcist is about a young girl possessed by a demon and a priest who has lost his faith. It’s done so differently and dressed up so well you don’t even think about how parallel it is until after the movie.
Evangelical minster Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) lets a documentary crew film his final exorcism. Cotton has lost his belief in what he’s doing and wants to expose himself as a fraud. They travel to the farm of Louis Sweetzer who claims his daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) is possessed. Cotton performs his faux investigation and exorcism, showing the crew how it all works.
That encompasses the first half of The Last Exorcism. It’s extremely well done and carried by a fantastic lead performance by Patrick Fabian. He’s so charismatic as Cotton that you find yourself completely engrossed in the story and buy into the documentary premise. In a film full of great performances Fabian stands out from beginning to end as both an entertaining showman and a thoughtful complex character.
The second half of the movie deals with the fact that, of course, something is wrong with Nell. By changing focus, the movie becomes more of an ensemble piece with everyone getting the chance to turn in good work. Ashley Bell is great here as the terrified, and occasionally terrifying, Nell. The movie turns into more of a regular investigative horror movie for a bit and that is when it starts to drag a little. The key information is that Nell is pregnant despite her father’s claims she is a virgin. Luckily director Daniel Stamm has some fun in store for us at the end of the road.
Aided by Bell’s physical performance, the third act of The Last Exorcism gives us some real thrills. Whether it’s watching as she takes the documentary crew’s camera on a midnight trip to the barn, or a conversation with the “demon” …Stamm wisely saves all his real tricks for the end. There are some welcome twists in the investigation that drive the minister and crew back to the farm believing they’ve solved what’s wrong with Nell. They turn out to be violently, deadly wrong.
Unfortunately, the ending is where the constraints of the mockumentary style wear out their welcome. They do as good of a job as they can to keep you invested in the crazy ending sequence…but the nature of the concept keeps you at arm’s length. This is when you want to find a way into the storm…not be stuck on the outside straining to see. It’s a relatively minor complaint because, again, artistically it serves its purpose.
In the end Nell gives birth to a demon and the baby is thrown into a fire seemingly raising a bigger demon. Having his belief restored as a result, Cotton rushes forward to confront the demon with his faith. And that is the last we see of him. The documentary crew retreats only to be murdered by cultists who had gathered for the ritual. It’s a bold choice to leave Cotton’s fate unresolved…but it’s probably the right one. They weren’t going to be able to film a demonic battle between good and evil and the restoration of his faith is his character arc. You just can’t help but feel you’re missing out on the best part because the cameraman runs away. That confrontation wasn’t this movie’s purpose. Stamm’s new movie Prey for the Devil might give us more of what The Last Exorcism lacked.
Scare Value
An excellent, charismatic lead performance from Patrick Fabian carries the first half of The Last Exorcism. A fine ensemble cast rounds out a fun, if unfortunately slight, second half. The mockumentary format that aids the storytelling does end up in the way of the climax. The strength of the rest of the movie provides a worthwhile trade off. If anything, The Last Exorcism makes you excited to see what Stamm can do with a possession story without being confined to a gimmicky format. The good news to close out this The Last Exorcism review is that we are about to find out.
3/5
