“Possession can be real…even if you don’t want it to be!”

The Godfather of demon possession movies, The Exorcist, has inspired many horror films past and present.  An interesting take on this topic came in the 2010 “found footage” style thriller The Last Exorcism.  Co-written by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland, directed by Daniel Stamm and co-produced by Eli Roth, the film takes a documentary style approach at the inner works of exorcism.

THE PLOT

Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) is a very charismatic Louisiana reverend who has made a living performing exorcisms.  He is locally known for putting on a “show” during his sermons, knowing that the congregation will eat it up and are easily influenced.  He decides to let a documentary crew follow him and get a better look into his daily life.  Once a man of strong faith, he now leads a life of religious doubt due to the fact that he gives credit to science rather than God for the healing of his disabled son.  Now feeling that possession can be chalked up to nothing more than psychological problems, he decides to expose exorcism for the fraud it is.  He invites the documentary crew to accompany him on a new case….a young farm girl whose father believes that “the Devil” himself has taken control of her.

Upon arrival, he and the crew are met with Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum) and his son Caleb (Caleb Landry Jones) with some reluctance as they question Cotton’s motives involving the camera crew.  After examining young Nell (Ashley Bell), Cotton knows that this is his opportunity to use her “problem” to sell his exorcism ability for a nice payday.  He has a whole bag of tricks in his arsenal and can make an “exorcism” look very authentic.  After performing his mock exorcism and collecting his cash, he feels like it’s a job well done and decides to stay a nearby hotel for the night before returning home the next day.  As night falls, Nell mysteriously appears at the hotel somewhat zoned out and not sure how she got there.  When they return to her farmhouse, Cotton and the crew quickly realize that there may be more to Nell’s story than they expected.  Now Cotton must summon his lost faith, if he is to save Nell and themselves from the supernatural forces that surround them!

SHOULD YOU SEE IT?

I personally loved this film!  It was an interesting take on demon possession and left me questioning what really happened as I was returning home from the theater.  Was she really possessed, or was it all in her head?  The interpretation is really left up to the viewer, and I think that is what the filmmakers were shooting for.  The story is very intriguing, the acting is great, and it has a very chilling feel to the whole thing.  Would definitely recommend it!