The Last Exorcism (2010)

February 21, 2023 1:34 PM

After years of gulling the faithful, cleric Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) feels remorse and decides to expose his chicanery through filming a documentary. With a crew in tow, Marcus arrives at the Louisiana farm of devout Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum), who believes that his daughter, Nell (Ashley Bell), is possessed. When the usual stunts fail, he realizes that he is face-to-face with real evil and must summon true faith to protect Nell, the others and himself from demonic power.

Directed by Daniel Stamm.

72% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

Currently streaming in the US on Peacock. Also available for digital rental. JustWatch.

posted by DirtyOldTown (4 comments total)

This is actually very well-done. I was going to contrast it against various other recent exorcism movies that don't seem to know how to pull real fear out of hoary, rigid clichés, like say the recent Prey for the Devil. But it turns out Daniel Stamm made that, too. [shrugs] I hope he got paid well.

This movie gets by navigating the well-worn topic of exorcisms because of the fascinating wrinkle of the exorcist being a con artist. It makes his skepticism stand in for ours and his terror when he realizes it's all real contagious to us.

Two great hey-it's-that-guy character actors as the male leads: Patrick Fabian (best known as Howard Hamlin on Better Call Saul) and Louis Herthum (Dolores's dad on Westworld).
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:39 PM on February 21, 2023

Yeah this was well above-average for the found footage approach. Amazingly, there was a sequel. Making this 'The Last Exorcism'-but-one.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:15 PM on February 21, 2023

I really like this movie but I can't decide if I love or hate the ending.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:55 AM on February 28, 2023

I rewatched this today and I am once again AMAZED that someone made a fresh exorcism story.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:55 AM on July 30