Movie Review: The Last Exorcism

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!

When I first saw this trailer it looked to be quite disturbing and looked to be one of those good scary movies that'll have people jumping out of their seats in the theater.  I didn't know much about the movie going in except for the trailer and some reviews that I read saying that the ending was disappointing. 

This is a documentary type of movie and for a little while I got the sense that it might have been a mockumentary with the comedy that was involved in the earlier part of the movie.

It starts off with a preacher named Cotton who agreed to be part of this documentary to show that exorcisms aren't real and that demons aren't real.  He had grown up as a preachers son and one of the things he says is that every preacher needs a pitch, something to draw in the congregation, to draw in the money because love doesn't keep the church open.

He starts to doubt his faith and question God and everything else, but he keeps preaching to put food on the table for him and his family.  So the preaching isn't because he believes in God or his faith anymore, it's just a job and a paycheck coming in. 

The open half of this movie is important, even though it's filled with small jokes - like how he incorporated his mothers banana bread recipe into his sermon and everyone still threw praises.  It reveals a lot about the storyline.  One important thing that was said is that if you believe in God, then you have to believe in the devil and the demons.  There's a great shot of his son saying that his dad fights demons, vampires and ghosts ... and when asked if his dad believes in those things he shakes his head with his finger to his lips to keep quiet.

He decides to take the film crew on a trip to document an "exorcism" that's he's going to perform and give them behind the scenes footage of how fake it all is. 

When he arrives in the town he says that it's easy for the people around the area to make things up based on things passed down and superstition.  One lady interviewed at a gas station said that the gates of hell was in the location they were going.  They arrive at the farm and a boy they meet tell them to turn around and starts to throw rocks at their car ... he ends up being the farmers son.  They meet the father and he seems to still be distraught over losing his wife to cancer and now facing the issue that his daughter might be possessed by a demon. 

We meet the daughter, Nell, and she's a 16 year old girl who has the innocence of a 10 or 11 year old.  When Cotton talks to her for the first time she really shines through and that warm innocent smile makes you feel for her and the pain of losing her mother ... she was her best friend.  He does some preliminary "tests" to her and then makes her dip her feet in a pan of water.  The water starts to bubble from something Cotton slipped into the water.  After setting up the girls bedroom he brings her in and performs an exorcism which by all accounts is fake.  You can see daughters fear and hope that whatever is in her leaves ... you can see it in the father too.  The son on the other hand is looking for all the smoke and mirrors since he saw Cotton drop something in the water to make it bubble.

After it was done he says that she's good to go ... she's happy and was now resting.  Quick and easy and the show was done, we even get a thumbs up from the son as they were leaving for a good performance.  A lot of humor thoughout this part of the movie as we see the behind the scenes footage of how things were done.

What seemed to be a done deal and Cotton getting paid for the exorcism and showing the film crew that it was all fake, we find Nell in his hotel room seemingly possessed.  This mid part of the movie goes back and forth with her possession or lack thereof.  The audience is left to decide at this point if she really does have a demon or doesn't. 

We find out that the dad pulled her out of the local church because he felt that they weren't teaching her good things.  This point in the movie seemed like a dad who was intouch with the old church and wanted his daughter to be taught the old beliefs and traditions without having the modern day view of things.  The father was definitely over protective of Nell. 

The father takes his son to the hospital after Nell cut his face and the son writes a note to Cotton saying not to leave her alone with him ... not to leave Nell alone with the father.  This was a key point in Cotton and his team to start to make presumptions about what was going on in the family and fed the story of them insisting Nell was just mentally disturbed.  We come to find out from the doctor leaving a message that Nell is pregnant and this continued to work on the minds of the crew that the father was abusing Nell ... especially after finding her chained to the bed.

Cotton still believes that she needs some mental help and that there isn't a demon here but just the daughter acting out and being scared because she got pregnant from a boy from the cafe down the road. 

This all is leading up to a finale which is questionable and you think comes out of right field.  There's a "wtf" moment when the final 8 minutes of the movie starts.  They find out the boy in the cafe is gay and that he wasn't with Nell ... then some more inconsistencies with the local preachers story who was now in the house with Nell and the family. 

They come back to find that house with satan drawings and the family gone.  As they are about to leave they hear Nell screaming and run to find a huge fire with some of the town people there, in robes, chanting.  Nell is on an altar with then trying to get the "baby" out of her ... we see the local preacher leading the whole thing.  The baby gets thrown into the fire and we see the fire erupt into something with the likes of a demon and not just a fire burning. 

This is where the audice gets lost, this is when the audience is left scratching their head and wondering what is happening, or what just happened.  But when you take that step back and look at the movie as a whole and the actual story, then you understand what and why that all takes place. 

The audience is drawn to watch the movie with the title of it being an exorcism, with expectations of it being like the original movie.  Joint breaking, blood, vomiting and all of the things that come along with demons.  But the exorcism that's referenced in the title really isn't about Nell and the demon that's inside her (yes she was actually possessed), it's about Cotton's last exorcism on himself, to rid himself of the demons that's caused him to doubt his faith and to not believe in God - to the point of even mocking it and making fun of it. 

At the start we find a preacher/minister who is fake, who's entire show is just to bring in the money to support his family.  This movie is a journey about how his faith is constantly tested and he constantly fails, until the very end where you see him hold his cross and run towards the demon in the fire to save Nell.  His faith is restored ... his belief is back but it took a physical demon in front of him to believe in God again. 

Ironic how he starts by saying that if you believe in God, you must believe in the devil and demons.  But for him it was the other way around ... he ended up believing in the demons to find his belief in God again.

I think this movie was extremely deep, and had a lot of it's focus on faith.  It's easy to draw parallels with this movie and the youth/church group I work with.  The kids are fired up and gung ho about things at first ... they preach, they go to everything, the are on fire.  They hit a point in their live where there's doubt in their belief or faith in one form or another ... then they disappear.  Some continue on their own spiritual journey while others just lose it all and forget all of that.  It'll take something to snap, or some kind of event in their life to make them realize that what they first experienced was all real, and to have that faith restored.  I see it as something that we all go through, even those who aren't religious, we ride that rollercoaster and hopefully we can be like Cotton and through all the jokes, the money, the scams he's pulling ... he was able to find the truth and find what was real.

This is quite a smart "horror" movie, people get lost in the ending but looking back at everything that was said and done, that's what the movie was building up for.  The tagline for this movie is "Believe in Him" which could be taken in a few different ways ...

Conclusion : Good if you're not expecting a fright fest and are looking for a movie where you have to think.  Don't watch this movie if you're just looking for a jump out of your seat horror movie. 

+ mon