The Last Exorcism
Rated PG-13
(for disturbing violent content and terror, some sexual references and thematic material)
1 hour 27 minutes
Storyline:
A troubled evangelical minister agrees to let his last exorcism be filmed by a documentary crew.
Directed By: Daniel Stamm
Starring:
Patrick Fabian
Ashley Bell
Iris Bahr
Louis Herthum
Caleb Landry Jones
Critics Grade:
70%
(Consensus: It doesn't fully deliver on the chilly promise of its Blair Witch-style premise, but The Last Exorcism offers a surprising number of clever thrills)
My Grade:
B+
Films about exorcism's generally are fairly disturbing movies. The idea of a demon, whether one believes or not, entering a human body and controlling us...is frightening. In reality or in nightmares. Also these movies generally involve this horrific event happening to young children and a lot of the time there is a lot of sexual references. Apparently demons are quite horny things. We have seen our share of movies over the years on this very subject. It started with the classic, and still greatest film about this..."The Exorcist". Ever since that Best Picture nominee came out in the 70's, we have seen a grocery list long of movies about this very same thing. Most of the time they aren't very good. A few years back, "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" came out and it was finally a film about exorcism that did something kind of different. That film, for the most part, is a court room drama/thriller. It cut backs to scenes of the girl being possessed, etc...which to me were some pretty chilling scenes. I very much liked that film. Now we have the newest one, "The Last Exorcism"...is this a sign we won't be seeing any more movies of this subject? No...probably not.
In terms of the subject material, this movie DOES do some things differently. First it uses the old hand held camera routine we see a lot in movies these days. But this is actually being filmed as a documentary, we even have side interviews with the "cast". The thing I liked about this style was that for the first 95% of the movie, it felt genuine and legit. If you can forget you are in a fictional film, this COULD actually pass as a documentary. Secondly, the main character is different that a lot of the priests we see in these movies. He's flawed, but he's also very charismatic. The guy has a big and very likable personality. You don't know how much his belief in God is authentic, but you do know that HE knows that exorcisms are fake. The premise of the movie is that this priest, after doing tons and tons of exorcisms since he was a little boy, finally wants to expose the falsehood of the practice. He's been faking it all along. We even get a scene where he shows the audience how he fakes all the cool tricks. Such as the bed shaking, the demon noises, etc. The premise is very cool and I personally think, very different.
But then his fake exorcism doesn't "work". The girl is still messed up but this priest is still not convinced there's a demon in her. After all, he believes demon's don't even exist. It makes you question
where his real belief in God lies. But now he's convinced the girl is seriously mentally traumatized because he figures out she may have been raped...by whom...well he's not 100% sure. A lot of this film centers around him trying to get this girl actual medical help but the crazy dad won't go for it. There's also a very strange brother who doesn't much care for this priest. The writing here, for a low budget PG-13 horror movie is quite good. At least for the first 95% of the movie. I believed these people were real and not characters in a movie. The story of this family felt authentic and not out of the realm of believability. That's the other thing, in the first 80% of the movie...everything that happens CAN happen in real life. Everything that happens can be explained (if not a demon) by something not other worldly. Legit job with the writing, and some really great directing.
This main actor, Patrick Fabian, is very very good. I mean this guy passes as a somewhat cocky, flawed but also quite charming priest. He's a good man, he loves his family and you have to believe that he believes in his church and his God. He's funny and he's full of energy. His performance is actually one of the better ones I've seen from anyone all year. This may sound silly, but he would be maybe in second place in my personal lists for best actor of the year. Next to Leo of course. I just believed him, and he's one of those characters you would love to meet in real life. I didn't see many hints of a "performance". It felt like this guy really was the pastor, and he really was doing this documentary. Well played by Fabian. The girl was also very good. She was sweet and passed as a real life 16 year old girl and again...not as some character in a movie. She pulled off all the weird noises and freaky body movements (the ones that weren't obvious effects that is) very convincingly.
Is this movie scary? Well coming from me...no not entirely. But don't read to much into that, because it's very rare I get scared in movies anymore. The first 30 or so minutes actually don't have any real elements of creepiness. The first part of the film is all set up and it's all needed and so well done. Fans of in your face horror movies may not care for this movie. If you are expecting scares at every turn and a terrifying opening sequence...you WILL be disappointed. No
thing "scary" actually happens until about mid way through. I'll admit, there are some very tense, eerie moments in this movie. This movie, when the scares come, probably will freak some movie goers out. Again, this subject isn't light. It is quite disturbing just as a story element alone. A lot of the scares involve the characters meandering around this creepy old house in the darkness and you aren't exactly sure what's going to happen. I WAS happily surprised by the lack of jump scenes. These movies ALWAYS fall prey to over loading scenes with stupid and cliched jump out moments that are not needed at all. This movie maybe has one...possibly two. But nothing bad. I like when the scaring is more in your head than anything.
So the one negative thing I have to say is all about the last five minutes of this movie. Everything that led up to the final act of the film, quite honestly, was brilliant in my mind. Totally legitimate horror movie that uses mind tricks and the subject material alone to provoke fear. You don't know whether to believe this girl is truly possessed or just mentally unstable. You don't know if this pastor believes in what he does or if he can even save this girl...he doesn't even know. Just a really great spin on the genre that I appreciated. Then...the last scene came. The last scene (and maybe even a scene or two before that) through me for a loop. No, it's not a twist ending. But what happens goes against everything the rest of the film was building up.
When I think now of what happened, sure it makes sense to me...but I didn't get it as a filmaking technique. To me the ending got all Hollywood and way to strange. It wasn't your typical ending for a film like this...but it felt to "big". The rest of the movie was almost thought provoking (on a certain level, nothing to extreme) and haunting. The rest of the movie felt real. This ending got all...devil worshipy on us...or so I think. It explained everything that was going in about 2 minutes. That's disappointing to me because the rest of the movie was a slow but fantastic build up. The last few minutes seemed forced and like the writer just didn't have a good way to conclude the movie...so bam...they came up with this gem. I just didn't understand why they chose this way to end this movie. I'm not saying the ending was atrocious and ruined the whole movie or anything. I was just sorely let down. It got way to weird way to fast and way to much happened. Then it just ends rather abruptly. It was as if none of the characters stories (especially the pastor) were resolved the way they should have. Not to mention...all the authenticity the movie had before that...just kind of all got tossed to the side for this bizarre end. The rest of the movie was subtle...the ending was definitely not. I'm rambling.
I don't know. What I do know though, is that this is a horror movie worth watching. Regardless of it's silly and ridiculous ending. Maybe you will like the end, who knows. I would have given this movie a solid A rating if there was a better conclusion. Enough about the end. Because the rest of this movie is just great! Very subtle, very unnerving, very real and authentic. Fantastic directing, and a SOLID and believable performance for the lead actor. Yes, I totally recommend this movie to fans of horror movies. Just be warned this is a movie that does NOT rely on big scares...but a bigger story and bigger on it's characters. Don't let my unhappiness with the ending fool you...because this was a really good movie.
Rated PG-13
(for disturbing violent content and terror, some sexual references and thematic material)
1 hour 27 minutes
Storyline:
A troubled evangelical minister agrees to let his last exorcism be filmed by a documentary crew.
Directed By: Daniel Stamm
Starring:
Patrick Fabian
Ashley Bell
Iris Bahr
Louis Herthum
Caleb Landry Jones
Critics Grade:
70%
(Consensus: It doesn't fully deliver on the chilly promise of its Blair Witch-style premise, but The Last Exorcism offers a surprising number of clever thrills)
My Grade:
B+
Films about exorcism's generally are fairly disturbing movies. The idea of a demon, whether one believes or not, entering a human body and controlling us...is frightening. In reality or in nightmares. Also these movies generally involve this horrific event happening to young children and a lot of the time there is a lot of sexual references. Apparently demons are quite horny things. We have seen our share of movies over the years on this very subject. It started with the classic, and still greatest film about this..."The Exorcist". Ever since that Best Picture nominee came out in the 70's, we have seen a grocery list long of movies about this very same thing. Most of the time they aren't very good. A few years back, "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" came out and it was finally a film about exorcism that did something kind of different. That film, for the most part, is a court room drama/thriller. It cut backs to scenes of the girl being possessed, etc...which to me were some pretty chilling scenes. I very much liked that film. Now we have the newest one, "The Last Exorcism"...is this a sign we won't be seeing any more movies of this subject? No...probably not.
In terms of the subject material, this movie DOES do some things differently. First it uses the old hand held camera routine we see a lot in movies these days. But this is actually being filmed as a documentary, we even have side interviews with the "cast". The thing I liked about this style was that for the first 95% of the movie, it felt genuine and legit. If you can forget you are in a fictional film, this COULD actually pass as a documentary. Secondly, the main character is different that a lot of the priests we see in these movies. He's flawed, but he's also very charismatic. The guy has a big and very likable personality. You don't know how much his belief in God is authentic, but you do know that HE knows that exorcisms are fake. The premise of the movie is that this priest, after doing tons and tons of exorcisms since he was a little boy, finally wants to expose the falsehood of the practice. He's been faking it all along. We even get a scene where he shows the audience how he fakes all the cool tricks. Such as the bed shaking, the demon noises, etc. The premise is very cool and I personally think, very different.
But then his fake exorcism doesn't "work". The girl is still messed up but this priest is still not convinced there's a demon in her. After all, he believes demon's don't even exist. It makes you question
where his real belief in God lies. But now he's convinced the girl is seriously mentally traumatized because he figures out she may have been raped...by whom...well he's not 100% sure. A lot of this film centers around him trying to get this girl actual medical help but the crazy dad won't go for it. There's also a very strange brother who doesn't much care for this priest. The writing here, for a low budget PG-13 horror movie is quite good. At least for the first 95% of the movie. I believed these people were real and not characters in a movie. The story of this family felt authentic and not out of the realm of believability. That's the other thing, in the first 80% of the movie...everything that happens CAN happen in real life. Everything that happens can be explained (if not a demon) by something not other worldly. Legit job with the writing, and some really great directing.This main actor, Patrick Fabian, is very very good. I mean this guy passes as a somewhat cocky, flawed but also quite charming priest. He's a good man, he loves his family and you have to believe that he believes in his church and his God. He's funny and he's full of energy. His performance is actually one of the better ones I've seen from anyone all year. This may sound silly, but he would be maybe in second place in my personal lists for best actor of the year. Next to Leo of course. I just believed him, and he's one of those characters you would love to meet in real life. I didn't see many hints of a "performance". It felt like this guy really was the pastor, and he really was doing this documentary. Well played by Fabian. The girl was also very good. She was sweet and passed as a real life 16 year old girl and again...not as some character in a movie. She pulled off all the weird noises and freaky body movements (the ones that weren't obvious effects that is) very convincingly.
Is this movie scary? Well coming from me...no not entirely. But don't read to much into that, because it's very rare I get scared in movies anymore. The first 30 or so minutes actually don't have any real elements of creepiness. The first part of the film is all set up and it's all needed and so well done. Fans of in your face horror movies may not care for this movie. If you are expecting scares at every turn and a terrifying opening sequence...you WILL be disappointed. No
thing "scary" actually happens until about mid way through. I'll admit, there are some very tense, eerie moments in this movie. This movie, when the scares come, probably will freak some movie goers out. Again, this subject isn't light. It is quite disturbing just as a story element alone. A lot of the scares involve the characters meandering around this creepy old house in the darkness and you aren't exactly sure what's going to happen. I WAS happily surprised by the lack of jump scenes. These movies ALWAYS fall prey to over loading scenes with stupid and cliched jump out moments that are not needed at all. This movie maybe has one...possibly two. But nothing bad. I like when the scaring is more in your head than anything.So the one negative thing I have to say is all about the last five minutes of this movie. Everything that led up to the final act of the film, quite honestly, was brilliant in my mind. Totally legitimate horror movie that uses mind tricks and the subject material alone to provoke fear. You don't know whether to believe this girl is truly possessed or just mentally unstable. You don't know if this pastor believes in what he does or if he can even save this girl...he doesn't even know. Just a really great spin on the genre that I appreciated. Then...the last scene came. The last scene (and maybe even a scene or two before that) through me for a loop. No, it's not a twist ending. But what happens goes against everything the rest of the film was building up.
When I think now of what happened, sure it makes sense to me...but I didn't get it as a filmaking technique. To me the ending got all Hollywood and way to strange. It wasn't your typical ending for a film like this...but it felt to "big". The rest of the movie was almost thought provoking (on a certain level, nothing to extreme) and haunting. The rest of the movie felt real. This ending got all...devil worshipy on us...or so I think. It explained everything that was going in about 2 minutes. That's disappointing to me because the rest of the movie was a slow but fantastic build up. The last few minutes seemed forced and like the writer just didn't have a good way to conclude the movie...so bam...they came up with this gem. I just didn't understand why they chose this way to end this movie. I'm not saying the ending was atrocious and ruined the whole movie or anything. I was just sorely let down. It got way to weird way to fast and way to much happened. Then it just ends rather abruptly. It was as if none of the characters stories (especially the pastor) were resolved the way they should have. Not to mention...all the authenticity the movie had before that...just kind of all got tossed to the side for this bizarre end. The rest of the movie was subtle...the ending was definitely not. I'm rambling.
I don't know. What I do know though, is that this is a horror movie worth watching. Regardless of it's silly and ridiculous ending. Maybe you will like the end, who knows. I would have given this movie a solid A rating if there was a better conclusion. Enough about the end. Because the rest of this movie is just great! Very subtle, very unnerving, very real and authentic. Fantastic directing, and a SOLID and believable performance for the lead actor. Yes, I totally recommend this movie to fans of horror movies. Just be warned this is a movie that does NOT rely on big scares...but a bigger story and bigger on it's characters. Don't let my unhappiness with the ending fool you...because this was a really good movie.
Great review, I was curious about this movie.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah I was actually expecting it to be bad. But I was really wrong and I'm glad about that. This was a sort of fresh take on an old horror movie premise. It goes down a different path than most do, and I liked that. It's just that ending...threw me for a loop because it was so different than the rest of the movie. Overall though, a really good movie!
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