Review: The Last Exorcism (2010)

I am not sure how well this film has been received in the horror community.  When I saw the movie for the first time, I liked it and I still like it.  It is an interesting film that really creeps me out and I think it does its job.  I don’t know why when we see Exorcism films they generally have to do with a female, most of the time a young female.  I guess if it was a male, not as interesting, there was a film based on the case, which the Exorcist was based off and it had a little boy as the possessed.  I know in the case of the Exorcist, the story was about a little boy from Baltimore and they turned it into a little girl which made it more uncomfortable for me.  The movie is called Possession and it is supposed to be closer to the true story that was adapted by William Peter Blatty.  Of course the Exorcist is  one of the scariest films ever, regardless of the sex of the possessed or how true the story actually is to the real event.  To get back on track, the Last Exorcism, this one, not one of the scariest, still really good.  Wow, I got way off track.

It is about Reverend Cotton Marcus who performs exorcisms.  But, they are not real exorcisms, he is a phony.  He shows off all of his tricks of the trade and then goes to a new case.  He visits a girl named Nell  on her father’s farm.   After listening to the details of the case, Marcus claims Nell is possessed by a powerful demon named Abalam.  Prior to the exorcism, Marcus bamboozles the family into believing he is driving out a demon.  After the ritual, Marcus and his film crew leave, believing they have cured her of a mental state that was misdiagnosed as a possession.  That night Nell shows up in Reverend Marcus’ hotel room and they find out she is with child, again I could tell the entire story, but I suggest you going ahead and checking it out, I think you would actually have to look for this one to rent because it is not streaming.  I bought it.

Exorcism films or any kind of film with demonic possessions freak me out, due to the fact it is like God vs the Devil in a way.  I have always enjoyed the term “Satanic Panic” and this falls into that category.  The tend to bring out the fear in most and I feel it is because of mankind’s biggest fear, the devil himself.  But these movies are damned entertaining.  Check this one out.  There is also a sequel, but I got about 30 minutes into the film and had to turn it off as it was terrible.  Oddly enough, some say The Last Exorcism is bad too, I am ok with it, not the best, but fun to watch.

On and interesting note, this is another of many films produced by Eli Roth and that is a part of the reason I checked out the Last Exorcism.

IMDB.com has a rating of 5.6

I give the Last Exorcism a rating of 6.6

About Ray Marek III 699 Articles
I have been watching horror films since I was 6 years old. The story, one Saturday night, my mom and I were watching movies and she fell asleep on the couch. We had the channel set on HBO and the movie we were watching ended and the next one, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. This was some time in 1986. I watched then entire film, I was sitting on the edge of my seat. When my mom woke, she asked me what just ended and I told her, “Freddy”. That was all I talked about for weeks and finally she broke down and rented more horror films for me. She rented, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 2, Re-Animator, Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives and Halloween II. I watched all and fell in love with horror films forever. 5 Horror Films to Watch Inferno (1980) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) The Beyond (1981) Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives (1986) Horror of Dracula (1958)