Talking Pictures

Rich Bonaduce reviews “The Last Exorcism”

Rich’s Quickie: The folks who enjoyed “The Blair Witch Project “ and “Paranormal Activity” will likely respond well to this one, too; but don’t include me in that number.

Firstly: Shot in ShakyVison! and brought to you in faux-documentary style, “The Last Exorcism” starts of well, following the exploits of a charlatan priest who has lost whatever faith he had, and now spends much of time ripping off his flock. It’s a clever idea; one that takes you behind the scenes and into the slight-of-hand used to deliver the goods during an exorcism, and into the justifications of those who would set such a stage. But when troubled evangelical minister Cotton Marcus (played by Patrick Fabian), comes across The Real Deal during the filming of his supposed last exorcism, his cheap tricks don’t wash and possibly unleash hell upon himself, his camera crew, and the family of Nell Sweetzer (a very flexible Ashley Bell), the afflicted young girl (isn’t it ALWAYS a young girl?) in question. The pacing and build-up is good; combining the slow-boil of the classic “The Exorcist”, the backwoods seclusion of “Deliverance” and the dark house of many creaks from “Halloween”, all in a market-friendly PG-13 package that goes easy on the crucifix.

Lastly: Too bad that literally the last few minutes, it goes so off the rails as to sour all that comes before it. Thus, it continues a series of similarly shot movies (such as “The Blair Witch Project” and “Paranormal Activity”) that wuss out in the end. Of course, if you liked those movies (or if you find something even remotely scary in the trailer for “Paranormal Activity 2”), then you will likely lap this up. Not me though, since I found all of those movies to be lackluster, and “The Last Exorcism” suffers from similar problems.

Movie Grade: C-

Director: Daniel Stamm
Writers: Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland

Rated PG-13 for disturbing violent content and terror, some sexual references and thematic material.

Tags: Rich Bonaduce reviews, talking pictures, the last exorcism
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