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One must not attend Eli Roth’s The Last Exorcism expecting anything like his deliciously decadent and torturous Hostel, or any of the other recent extreme horror films, such as my new fave, the utterly depraved The Human Centipede. Roth serves as producer here, rather than director ( Daniel Stamm), and while those films freakishly explore what happens to foolish Americans in Europe, Exorcism plays more like a non-alien X-File entry.
Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), a former child prodigy, preacher and working “Exorcist,” is making a documentary (film within a film) exposing his own fraudulent behavior while acting as an apologist as well. He feels that what he has contributed might be able to stand up to what a therapist can offer a neurotic patient - with his own very short term treatment - consisting of iPod induced sound effects and a neat bag ‘o tricks. Although he offers no actual penance, he is troubled by his “career” and has decided to film his swansong.
This preacher from the “big city” (Baton Rouge) accepts a random request, via a letter regarding a disturbed 16 year old, Nell (Ashley Bell). Her righteous yet questionable father, Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum), has sent this passionate snail mail to Marcus begging for a solution. Cotton, expecting this to be a routine “job,” packs up his bells ‘n whistles, a small film crew and makes his way to the rural farm, where the otherwise angelic girl is suspected of slaughtering livestock with her bare hands while under the influence of the Devil’s spawn.
I kinda dug the first half of the film’s premise, with its lengthy exposition and the highly amusing antics of the beguiling preacher. Fabian’s performance, with flashing teeth and a convincing sales pitch, was always fun to watch and surprisingly sympathetic, even though you knew he was one wrong dude. I did not find him totally believable as a deep southern character, since his accent was too subtle for those parts.
The movie literally shifts gears when the small caravan approaches the farm house, only to have their truck stoned by Nell’s malevolent brother, Caleb (Caleb Landry Jones). The roads leading to the farm show abandoned shacks and all kinds of rural poverty markers, so I was surprised by the appearance of an immaculate farm house with hard wood floors and expensive looking area rugs. The barn appeared to be authentic enough though, while being the scene of some of the more chilling acts in the movie.
Having been weaned on movies such as the original The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, I found it almost impossible to be really scared or compelled by the second half of this extremely low-budget film, that seemed to ask many of the same questions that the classics do. Is the Devil making Nell misbehave and contort her body? Is she carrying the child of man or Satan? Is she neurotic or psychotic? And what is up with her angry brother and a father who seems to want the best for his girl when he isn’t pulling a gun on her?
The answers came at the end, in what may be considered a tacked on twist, and while I didn't mind the turn it took, I would have wanted more invested in the people who figured in the picture’s ultimate conclusion. It felt like the film-maker ran out of money or interest, as I was not satisfied with the film’s shenanigans as a whole. Even with these weaknesses, the film might appeal to the genre’s fans whose appetites are not as insatiable as this reviewer's. It also might make a worthy rental in a few months, via the ever growing Netflix.
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