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Dear wannabe horror filmmakers: Don't promise what you have no intention of delivering. Nothing angers the genre fanbase quicker than a preplanned bit of shocker bait and switch. Case in point -- the Eli Roth produced effort The Last Exorcism. Using the first person POV found footage motif made popular by such previous hits as The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, and Paranormal Activity, we are assured that the next 88 minutes will consist of a crocked preacher who doesn't believe in demons coming face to face with a real life case of possession. The resulting battle between good and evil set within the inventive cinematic style will supposedly to rewrite the rulebook on primal fear and guttural terror.
Except, that's not what we get at all. Instead, newbie director Daniel Stamm uses the confused script by Huck Butko and Andrew Gurland as a roadmap to an eventual collision with lapses in plot logic and limited scares. When we do meet cynical preacher Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), he's arguing for his abilities as a religious con artist. Suggesting that most situations dealing with Satan are outright frauds, he brings a documentary crew along on one last "exorcism", hoping to show how easy it is to fake such a ritual. He randomly picks the case of widower Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum) and his bedeviled daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) and heads off into the desolate heart of rural Louisiana. There, he discovers the family's belligerent son (Caleb Landry Jones), a creeped out girl, and a wealth of secrets -- both pragmatic and potentially paranormal.
It's easy to sum up what's wrong with The Last Exorcism -- nothing happens. We have to wait an entire hour before the movie makes even the remotest move toward scares, and then it quickly abandons same for some dopey, socially conscious hand-wringing (there is the implication that incest and abuse could be at the core of Nell's "issues"). At first, we are intrigued by Rev. Marcus, his past as a child preacher mimicking the real life story of '70s actor/evangelist Marjoe Gortner. Fabian is compelling in the lead, winning us over with his nod-and-wink way of highlighting the flaws in fundamentalism; even the introduction of a "demon guidebook" works initially because of how the actor handles it.
Once we meet the Sweetzers, things get a little more complicated. Ms. Bell is intriguing, but suffers from being underused -- and she's the main focus of the storyline. Similarly, her onscreen brother is such a massive red herring that we wonder when his angry cynicism will come back to corrupt the narrative (don't worry -- it does). And then it all falls apart during a prolonged cat and mouse ending that sees the whole possession angle tossed aside from something far more foolish. No pea soup. No head spins. Just lots of running and shouting, followed by a regrettable trek into the woods.
This is a perfect example of generational fright, kids mining their past and creating what they think is spine-chilling, assured that most in the crowd will come down on their side of the dread demographic. Unfortunately, anyone old enough to actually remember how William Friedkin freaked out pop culture with his far superior The Exorcist will scoff at such silliness. With its pilfering from better horror titles and its decision to turn dumb just as things get interesting, we can hope this is indeed the last go-round for this underwhelming, uneventful experience. Even the Devil himself would be disturbed by how stupid this movie is.
Except, that's not what we get at all. Instead, newbie director Daniel Stamm uses the confused script by Huck Butko and Andrew Gurland as a roadmap to an eventual collision with lapses in plot logic and limited scares. When we do meet cynical preacher Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), he's arguing for his abilities as a religious con artist. Suggesting that most situations dealing with Satan are outright frauds, he brings a documentary crew along on one last "exorcism", hoping to show how easy it is to fake such a ritual. He randomly picks the case of widower Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum) and his bedeviled daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) and heads off into the desolate heart of rural Louisiana. There, he discovers the family's belligerent son (Caleb Landry Jones), a creeped out girl, and a wealth of secrets -- both pragmatic and potentially paranormal.
It's easy to sum up what's wrong with The Last Exorcism -- nothing happens. We have to wait an entire hour before the movie makes even the remotest move toward scares, and then it quickly abandons same for some dopey, socially conscious hand-wringing (there is the implication that incest and abuse could be at the core of Nell's "issues"). At first, we are intrigued by Rev. Marcus, his past as a child preacher mimicking the real life story of '70s actor/evangelist Marjoe Gortner. Fabian is compelling in the lead, winning us over with his nod-and-wink way of highlighting the flaws in fundamentalism; even the introduction of a "demon guidebook" works initially because of how the actor handles it.
Once we meet the Sweetzers, things get a little more complicated. Ms. Bell is intriguing, but suffers from being underused -- and she's the main focus of the storyline. Similarly, her onscreen brother is such a massive red herring that we wonder when his angry cynicism will come back to corrupt the narrative (don't worry -- it does). And then it all falls apart during a prolonged cat and mouse ending that sees the whole possession angle tossed aside from something far more foolish. No pea soup. No head spins. Just lots of running and shouting, followed by a regrettable trek into the woods.
This is a perfect example of generational fright, kids mining their past and creating what they think is spine-chilling, assured that most in the crowd will come down on their side of the dread demographic. Unfortunately, anyone old enough to actually remember how William Friedkin freaked out pop culture with his far superior The Exorcist will scoff at such silliness. With its pilfering from better horror titles and its decision to turn dumb just as things get interesting, we can hope this is indeed the last go-round for this underwhelming, uneventful experience. Even the Devil himself would be disturbed by how stupid this movie is.
