The Last Exorcism
I rented this movie pretty much entirely because of this review. And I find that that says most all of what I want to say about it, too. Spoilers there, and behind the cut.
This movie was actually good. Well, almost. It starts off surprisingly self-aware and humorous. The main character is a preacher, whose father was a preacher, and started preaching at a very young age. He's very much in that style of an entertainer, with an almost auctioneer-ish way of talking. He gets some "Amen"s and "Hallelujah"s out of his flock, and jokingly tells the camera that it doesn't really matter what he says - he could preach a banana bread recipe. And then he does, and it's hilarious. Other people need to see this if only to understand my new desire to say something like, "And then you put it in the oven for 20 minutes can I get an amen!"
He talks candidly about losing his faith, and how surprised he was when his reaction to his infant son's survival was to thank the doctor, not God. It's a touching moment, and he seems so... calm, and accepting of it. Talks about how it was hard, but it's clear that that was years ago, and I never got the impression that he was angry, or thought the members of his parish stupid (despite the banana bread thing above). He recognizes that religion helps some people, so he does that, to help them, though it doesn't work for him. Similarly, he does exorcisms. Not because he believes in them, but because he recognizes that other people do, and that it can be a kind of therapy for them. However, after reading about an autistic boy dying during an exorcism, he's decided to show how fraudulent they are.
However, I get the impression he's showing off for the camera a bit as he only skims the letter from someone asking for help, and is surprised when he arrives at the farm to learn that the "possessed" person is a child.
Nell is fabulous. The girl not only did all her own contortions (which, wow - a really well done mix of wrong, but also not-quite-so-wrong-as-to-be-absolutely-possessed. Major points to the film for not going flashy sfx here), but she plays Nell with a quiet mix of faith, strength, naivety, and an adorable thrilled kind of joy to have Other People around after her isolated life. There's a bit with shoes, where she compliments one of the women in the camera crew's boots, and the woman gives them to her. In other scenes she's just wearing them, like a security blanket. It's really very sweet.
The real thing that caught me about this movie, that the trailer did not hint at at all, was that it's really unclear for most of the movie whether this is a disturbed young woman or a possession. Very well done to ratchet up the tension without making it go flat-out obvious and supernatural.
When it comes out that Nell is pregnant, the film takes a turn for the serious in a way I really wasn't expecting. The idea she's the victim of abuse (the likely candidate is her father) makes the camera crew break down, and casts a very different light on some of the sexual tones of her 'possession' moments at the hotel, in particular. As the Into Survival blog mentions at many points, horror movies and female sexuality rarely get along, but this was a twist on the tired 'Oooh, scary girl parts' booga-booga that many horror movies do - a disturbing one, to be sure, but effective.
However, now that the camera crew and Preacher Cotton have convinced Nell's possibly abusive father that her soul is in danger, her father is threatening to kill her to 'save her soul', so they agree to another fake 'exorcism' to try to buy some time and save Nell. There is some very creepy contortions, and a brief great moment where Nell/the possible demon says, "I'll let her go if you can keep quiet for ten seconds" and then starts slowly counting, while breaking her own fingers. Nicely done.
And then there's a riff off of The Exorcism, where she gets very sexual and offers Cotton a 'blowing job' - only to have him call her out, saying a demon would know what it was called, but a hurt little girl wouldn't. It comes out that Nell is pregnant from a young man in town, who she willingly slept with after her mother died. It's just a case of a sheltered girl from a very strict and religious family with a domineering father not knowing how to deal with her feelings, hormones, and guilt over her actions, and having a breakdown. I wasn't sure how I felt with it, then - felt a little bit like the rug had been pulled out from under me for much of the movie, because wow was this not like the trailers promised, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm very wary (and weary) of movies making girls and sex out to be so scary, but this seemed actually creepy without being insulting, and disturbing for different reasons than the norm.
...except, no, it's not, it's actually a demon. Sigh. The end of this movie sucked. I almost wish it had entirely sucked at the end so I could just tell people to turn it off when the camera crew leaves the farm. But there's a moment, when they go back, and see Nell being held down on an altar and giving birth to a demon thing, her father tied up, most of the rest of the town being Secretly In On It and evil cultists (of course), that was good. The camera crew is watching from a distance, and you see the tiny demonbaby, which is clearly not human, and which the evil priest tosses into the fire. The flames rise up in some clearly infernal ways, and while the two people in the crew are freaking out, Cotton just calmly stands up, holds out his bible, and walks forward, telling the demon that Nell belongs to God. Then the camera guy runs off, so we never see what happens, and it devolves into the end of every other first person camera style horror movie ever. But that one moment where Cotton's faith comes back, and so calmly, is nice. The rest of the ending sucks.
So, all in all, it was pretty good, right up until it really wasn't. Nell really makes the movie. 3.5 stars. 4 if the ending hadn't sucked.
This movie was actually good. Well, almost. It starts off surprisingly self-aware and humorous. The main character is a preacher, whose father was a preacher, and started preaching at a very young age. He's very much in that style of an entertainer, with an almost auctioneer-ish way of talking. He gets some "Amen"s and "Hallelujah"s out of his flock, and jokingly tells the camera that it doesn't really matter what he says - he could preach a banana bread recipe. And then he does, and it's hilarious. Other people need to see this if only to understand my new desire to say something like, "And then you put it in the oven for 20 minutes can I get an amen!"
He talks candidly about losing his faith, and how surprised he was when his reaction to his infant son's survival was to thank the doctor, not God. It's a touching moment, and he seems so... calm, and accepting of it. Talks about how it was hard, but it's clear that that was years ago, and I never got the impression that he was angry, or thought the members of his parish stupid (despite the banana bread thing above). He recognizes that religion helps some people, so he does that, to help them, though it doesn't work for him. Similarly, he does exorcisms. Not because he believes in them, but because he recognizes that other people do, and that it can be a kind of therapy for them. However, after reading about an autistic boy dying during an exorcism, he's decided to show how fraudulent they are.
However, I get the impression he's showing off for the camera a bit as he only skims the letter from someone asking for help, and is surprised when he arrives at the farm to learn that the "possessed" person is a child.
Nell is fabulous. The girl not only did all her own contortions (which, wow - a really well done mix of wrong, but also not-quite-so-wrong-as-to-be-absolutely-possessed. Major points to the film for not going flashy sfx here), but she plays Nell with a quiet mix of faith, strength, naivety, and an adorable thrilled kind of joy to have Other People around after her isolated life. There's a bit with shoes, where she compliments one of the women in the camera crew's boots, and the woman gives them to her. In other scenes she's just wearing them, like a security blanket. It's really very sweet.
The real thing that caught me about this movie, that the trailer did not hint at at all, was that it's really unclear for most of the movie whether this is a disturbed young woman or a possession. Very well done to ratchet up the tension without making it go flat-out obvious and supernatural.
When it comes out that Nell is pregnant, the film takes a turn for the serious in a way I really wasn't expecting. The idea she's the victim of abuse (the likely candidate is her father) makes the camera crew break down, and casts a very different light on some of the sexual tones of her 'possession' moments at the hotel, in particular. As the Into Survival blog mentions at many points, horror movies and female sexuality rarely get along, but this was a twist on the tired 'Oooh, scary girl parts' booga-booga that many horror movies do - a disturbing one, to be sure, but effective.
However, now that the camera crew and Preacher Cotton have convinced Nell's possibly abusive father that her soul is in danger, her father is threatening to kill her to 'save her soul', so they agree to another fake 'exorcism' to try to buy some time and save Nell. There is some very creepy contortions, and a brief great moment where Nell/the possible demon says, "I'll let her go if you can keep quiet for ten seconds" and then starts slowly counting, while breaking her own fingers. Nicely done.
And then there's a riff off of The Exorcism, where she gets very sexual and offers Cotton a 'blowing job' - only to have him call her out, saying a demon would know what it was called, but a hurt little girl wouldn't. It comes out that Nell is pregnant from a young man in town, who she willingly slept with after her mother died. It's just a case of a sheltered girl from a very strict and religious family with a domineering father not knowing how to deal with her feelings, hormones, and guilt over her actions, and having a breakdown. I wasn't sure how I felt with it, then - felt a little bit like the rug had been pulled out from under me for much of the movie, because wow was this not like the trailers promised, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm very wary (and weary) of movies making girls and sex out to be so scary, but this seemed actually creepy without being insulting, and disturbing for different reasons than the norm.
...except, no, it's not, it's actually a demon. Sigh. The end of this movie sucked. I almost wish it had entirely sucked at the end so I could just tell people to turn it off when the camera crew leaves the farm. But there's a moment, when they go back, and see Nell being held down on an altar and giving birth to a demon thing, her father tied up, most of the rest of the town being Secretly In On It and evil cultists (of course), that was good. The camera crew is watching from a distance, and you see the tiny demonbaby, which is clearly not human, and which the evil priest tosses into the fire. The flames rise up in some clearly infernal ways, and while the two people in the crew are freaking out, Cotton just calmly stands up, holds out his bible, and walks forward, telling the demon that Nell belongs to God. Then the camera guy runs off, so we never see what happens, and it devolves into the end of every other first person camera style horror movie ever. But that one moment where Cotton's faith comes back, and so calmly, is nice. The rest of the ending sucks.
So, all in all, it was pretty good, right up until it really wasn't. Nell really makes the movie. 3.5 stars. 4 if the ending hadn't sucked.