The Last Exorcism -- 2010 -- avi torrent

With its surprisingly satirical edge and brilliant evocation of southern gothic, The Last Exorcism could have been one of the very best mainstream flicks of the year. Instead it utterly defeats itself in the dying moments so much so it smacks of incompetence.

It doesn’t just shoot itself in the foot, more holds a shotgun under its chin and yells ‘we don’t have a third act’ before blowing its face off. It is idiotic, to say the least. Maybe the Devil made them do it.

The faux documentary set up focuses on Reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), a man openly admitting to being less holy than he appears. Living in Baton Rouge and preaching utter nonsense to his gullible congregation, he is a self-justifying fraudster undone by his own ego and avarice. As he jokingly admits to the camera crew, ‘the Church doesn’t run only on love’.

When called out to a farm in deepest, darkest Louisiana things take a turn for the supernatural – but not quite how you’d imagine. One of the great things about The Last Exorcism is the deconstruction of the power of suggestion and how the characters interpret events. Rev. Marcus has a quip and smart-aleck answer for everything.

… and so we are thrust into a world of ancient demons, showmanship and bible-thumping, and like one of Marcus’s holy-rollers, you’ll be sucked in and made a fool of, given the bizarre denouement. It won’t be an exorcist you’ll need after seeing this, but the cinema manager to ask for your money back. Shame, because I could have loved this film. It’s very rare to leave a screening looking up to the credit crawl and grumpily announcing, ‘oh, fuck off’.

Stamm and his crew spend a great amount of time turning up the tension and the atmosphere drips with creeping fear. Just when you think the case is real, something turns up to suggest otherwise. The power of religious fervour meets grim reality. Cotton Marcus goes from charlatan to social worker and towards the end stumbles blindly into danger without ever realising it.

Nell (Ashley Bell), the focus point of the demonic activity is the typical sheltered novice through who others channel their agenda. She’s having weird dreams of somebody called Esther of Antioch and draws macabre pictures that have a habit of coming true. Marcus performs a sham exorcism and leaves thinking all to be well in the world and comfort brought to those involved. Then the shit hits the fan.

Literally, until the last very scene, The Last Exorcism is brilliant. A great shame then to end the way it does. Essentially, it backs itself into a corner and lacks internal logical consistency. If the film-makers insist on using the mockumentary device they must think it out thoroughly.

As an entry into the demonic possession genre it should be commended for playing a little differently and leaving the po-faced stance of films like The Exorcist and The Exorcism of Emily Rose at the door.

Like the recent Requiem, for a good part, Daniel Stamm’s movie draws you in with the lies of the characters before unfortunately becoming a great liar itself. Requiem focused on the illness of a young woman ultimately killed by the convictions of those around her and her own trauma. Nell is vulnerable to the actions and decisions of others, but by the end when things get all ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, you’ll be scratching your head in confusion.


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