The Last Exorcism (2010)
Summary
Genre: HorrorGoodies:
+ One of the best documentary-style horrors to date, + Engaging characters and creepy situationsBaddies:
- Ending feels odd for what the rest of the film offeredA troubled evangelical minister agrees to let his last exorcism be filmed by a documentary crew.
I had been putting off The Last Exorcism for quite a while just because it seemed overly average to me. Having seen The Exorcist, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and a variety of other similar films, I didn’t feel as if it could bring that much more to the table, and I was wrong! It had been a very long time since I had seen the trailer, so I did not realize it was filmed in the “fake-documentary” style, that, honestly, has the ability to fall extremely flat on it’s face. I felt TLE did not suffer (until maybe a little bit at the very end) due to some of these film-style choices. In a large-list of horrors that have been mainstream unsuccessful in the last couple years, I have lost a lot of faith in what theaters will bring to me (which is why I glossed over this upon theatrical release, which I wish I hadn’t). The story is very basic; a preacher who has lost faith is participating in a documentary to expose the fraudulent nature of exorcism from within the religious community. This concept alone had be very intrigued, as the dynamic of a ‘fallen priest’ who is basically a performer at his church, is one that I had never seen in a film before. The characters are what make the film (which for this style is extremely important). Cotton is a likable character who is both comical and logical. When the film starts turning into ambiguous territory (whether or not the girl he is visiting to perform his last exorcism is actually possessed or experiencing mental trauma), I felt more and more involved in the story and characters. The last 15 minutes of the film feel like they fall apart a bit, and explanation and resolution feels rushed and unsatisfactory given the journey the film takes us on throughout the rest of the film. Other than that, i don’t have many complains at all. I thought the film had both qualities of humor and horror that did not infringe on each other and presented a fresh new take on the exorcism sub-genre.
Trailer
