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Thursday, August 26, 2010
Movie Review: The Last Exorcism, starring Patrick Fabian (with trailer video)
Posted by Kevin Hopp on Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 12:50 PM
There's nothing like a quality horror movie. Only a good horror flick can scare the bejeezus out of you despite your foreknowledge that a shock is on the way. That said, I don't care for the gross factor that seems to be mistaken for scary these days. As a result, most modern horror movies don't scare me. So when I saw the trailer for The Last Exorcism, I had my doubts.
The Last Exorcism is about a minister (Patrick Fabian) experiencing a crisis of faith. He knows he's very good at spreading the word of the Lord, but lately he's just faking it every Sunday without heart. He also hates exorcisms because he sees them as a way for perfectly healthy people to be killed by a religion he no longer understands. The minister vows to go on one last exorcism with a film crew to expose the sham — and maybe save a life at the same time. What follows tests everything both the preacher and the audience know to be real.
Last Exorcism is clearly the love child of two specific movies, The Blair Witch Project and The Exorcist. I enjoyed those films, but the filmmakers behind Last Exorcism have lifted both the strengths and the weaknesses of these earlier productions and folded them into their own. So much so, that it often feels like the producers just slapped Blair Witch and The Exorcist together and said "go." But if you liked the source material, you'll feel right at home.
As a result, Blair Witch style shaky-cam is used throughout, though it stays surprisingly stable for the most part. (In one deliciously brutal scene, the camera operator is the creepiest part.) They do take the camera shtick too far, though, and we end up with the tried-and-true running through the woods scenes. In addition, the film also lifts liberally from The Exorcist in that it follows a minister battling the devil and his lack of faith. Both plot devices feel tired.
The films main flaw is in the pacing. Unlike last year's hit Paranormal Activity (one of my favorite films), Last Exorcism doesn't have a steady buildup of tension. In fact, it has none at all for the first half, then cranks the tension up to 11, turns it off, cranks it back up, turns it off, and finally turns it all the way up for the finale. While this can be effective, horror-fans are liable to find the first half of the film boring. If you are a fan of documentaries, however, the first half is quite entertaining as it makes you believe you're watching an interesting documentary on a minister and his attempts to show the world that exorcisms are more about mental illness than slaying demons.
Overall, I enjoyed the convincing documentary feel and Patrick Fabian's winning performance, but Last Exorcism feels too much like an obvious retread of two very over-done movies that you'll end up shaking your head at the end. If you liked Blair Witch and the Exorcist, however, I think you'll dig it.
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