The Last Exorcism

Horror

Hopscotch

R4 DVD

Not another exorcism film ! Demonic possession has been rather done to death so I had no great hopes for this film. I was wrong. It is possibly the best film of this genre I have seen. That may seem a little strong but the careful development of the plot, the excellent acting and the sinister surroundings all go to make a film that is well out of the ordinary.

The story revolves around the Reverend Cotton Marcus, who has performed over 200 fake exorcisms. To reveal the scams, in which a child has recently died, Cotton will arrange an exorcism for a camera crew who will record everything. On the way to the Deep South and his next case Cotton shares his beliefs with the camera. He has never experienced a real case of possession. He justifies his lucrative exorcisms by pointing out that the “possession” is often a symptom of a deeper psychological guilt and an exorcism will often relieve the possessed of their guilt. It has worked in the past and he has no doubt it will work in this case as well. Whether Cotton believes in God is left open. The religious aspect of exorcisms is irrelevant – to Cotton it is about money.

The possessed girl, Nell, is normally a nice polite farm girl but she cannot explain her possession. When she is possessed her father finds it necessary to chain her up in the barn. Nell’s mother died some years ago and her father has never quite come to grips with her loss – he prayed and prayed but the cancer beat her. Now he is on the verge of questioning his faith.

Cotton carries out his token exorcism ritual complete with lots of shouting and exhortations and prayers. It seems to relieve Nell. Her father joins in the prayers with a will. Her brother, though, is a little reluctant. Perhaps he can see through Cotton’s charade.

With Nell “cured”, Cotton collects his money and leaves. They stop for the night in a motel a few miles away and during the night Nell turns up, distressed and saying she doesn’t want to go back. The possession is still there but is getting worse. On admission to the hospital they find she is pregnant. Cotton seems to be looking at a case of incest, not possession, but the possession episodes continue.

Her father takes Nell out of the hospital and they go back home. He won’t believe she is pregnant. When Cotton finds out he goes back to the farm to check on her welfare. He is starting to care a little about others instead of being his usual self-centred self. What he sees is dreadful. It seems the local priest has other ways than exorcism of dealing with problems like this.

Patrick Fabian (Cotton) is the strong character who ties it all together, even when his faith in himself is shaken. He plays the confidence trickster well but he is just as good at playing the confused and challenged man when things turn nasty. I liked Ashley Bell’s rendition of Nell – innocent, full of guilt and scared about what’s happening to her. She perfectly counterbalances Cotton in his brash self-confidence. She may be fairly new to acting but there is a good future ahead of her.

In some ways this is a nasty film, but in all ways it is a strong story, well directed, and a credit to all who worked on it.

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