The Last Exorcism
Release Date
03 Sep 2010
03 Feb 2011
- User rating
-
Currently
2/5 Stars.
- Critic rating
- Currently 3/5 Stars.
84% of raters want to see this movie
Certificate:
15A
Genre:
When he arrives on the Louisiana farm of Louis Sweetzer, the Rev. Cotton Marcus expects to perform just another routine "exorcism" on a disturbed religious fanatic. An earnest fundamentalist, Sweetzer has contacted the charismatic preacher as a last resort, certain his teenage daughter Nell is possessed by a demon who must be exorcized before their terrifying ordeal ends in unimaginable tragedy. Buckling under the weight of his conscience after years of parting desperate believers with their money, Cotton and his crew plan to film a confessionary documentary of this, his last exorcism. But upon arriving at the already blood drenched family farm, it is soon clear that nothing could have prepared him for the true evil he encounters there.
Cast:
Patrick Fabian
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Iris Bahr
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Louis Herthum
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Ashley Bell
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Jamie Alyson Caudle
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Tony Bentley
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Shanna Forrestall
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Allen Boudreaux
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Caleb Landry Jones
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Denise Lee
Writers:
Huck Botko
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Andrew Gurland
Producers:
Marc Abraham
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Thomas A. Bliss
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Eric Newman
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Eli Roth
Directors:
Daniel Stamm
- Critic rating
-
Currently
3/5 Stars.
Movies.ie Critic Review
A film all about belief, the charismatic Reverent Cotton Marcus (Fabian) is happy to let documentary maker Iris (Bahr) know that, after the death of his young son, he no longer believes in the man above, his evangelical glee now merely a lucrative act. So much so, he's bringing Iris along to his next exorcism, deep in New Orleans' bible belt, where he will reveal all the tricks – hidden speakers, electric shocks, effervescent powder in the water - of his shyster trade.
And that's when the belief of the tormented – and now defiled - young girl's father comes into play, his wide-eyed determination to rid his daughter of the devil inside soon giving Cotton and Iris plenty of pause for thought. And good reason to run for the hills. Especially when young Nell (Bell, delivering Linda Blair's Regan via Amy Adams' childlike Ashley in Junebug) goes feral.
THE VERDICT: Breathing some new life into a well-worn genre, The Last Exorcism may not exactly reinvent the wheel, but it does deliver when it comes to thoughtfully, methodically and mercilessly scaring the bejasus out of its audience. Somewhere between Rosemary's Baby and The Blair Witch Project, director Daniel Stamm and producer Eli Roth prove that you can have both smarts and scares in a modern horror flick.
By the end, you don't know who to believe, the father or the Father, and you're left just as dazed and confused as, well, most God-fearing Americans today.
Review by Paul Byrne