The Last Exorcism
My Humble Opinion
If you want to know how much budget they had, who were the producers and cast members and all that rubbish you can go search for it at IMDB. I’m not interested in those – in fact I never was interested in those information. Sure, it’s good to know but I don’t really care unless the movie is good. Hope you catch my drift here.
I am not going to sit here and express my hate for this movie with CAPS and exclamation marks. All I will say is that horror movies are a lot less common than other genres, as it is very challenging to make a good one. Well, in short, this isn't one of those. It’s just bad. Imagine a comedy without a laugh or a Romantic Comedy without the female lead. Well this film is a horror and I am sure you can put two and two together.
It builds up and up... and up. That’s it.
Synopsis (Read only when you don’t intend to watch.)
The film starts in a promising mood, raising an interesting message how churches con to get their money. It was also good when it highlighted the irony that the reverend himself doubts the existence of god. Then it just declines - further and further in you slowly realise this ship is never going to sail.
The usual “I’ll let your camera crew follow me and film the process.” Thing. So they head out to this Switzer farm or something. There was a lot of comic relief when they were traveling there like how the people called that place the ‘very gates to hell’. But then again, why is there so much comic relief in a horror film? You don’t see stuff like that in Japanese or Thai horror flicks. Guess that makes a whole lot of difference.
So anyway when they arrived, the reverend introduces all of his props for his exorcism to the camera crew and the audience. Another comic relief with the smoke-emitting cross he used to ‘absorb’ the demon into. They are seriously over-doing the comic relief thing. Ironic. The reverend feels that there is no possession at all and it was merely a case of a girl who has psychiatric problems. I guess the climax of the film is when the ‘possessed’ girl turns up at the reverend’s hotel when she shouldn’t know anything about at all. She’s 16 if you are wondering. And you get your typical exorcism storyline – the cracking of neck, the disjointed body and the weird noises the ‘devil’ makes.
The only thing I find interesting at this point of time is with the reverend’s struggle to decide whether or not this is a possession or just a state of mental illness. His faith is put to the test and by the way he still hasn’t decided whether or not it’s a possession even at the end of the film. Guess that is supposed to be for them to know, for us to find out.
Finally the movie draws to a close when the reverend concludes that the ‘possessed’ is just in a state of trauma after being raped by someone called Logan who works in the town after speaking to the girl. (What’s her name again?) So they left the town leaving the girl with her father and the town’s pastor to seek medical attention. This is when everyone thought that the movie was ending and were starting to frown and complain. I heard mumblings. That would have been quite a sucky ending. Then relief. When everything seemed like a happy ending, the crew came by the place where the girl said Logan was working at and decided to confront the boy – only to find out that Logan is actually gay and there was no way he would have raped her. So she was lying. Why? The reverend decided to go back to find out.
Everyone’s on the edge of their seats by now, thinking that this is the actual climax of the story. (It’s only 1 hour and 10 mins into the show. Didn’t seem like it would end that quickly anyway.)
So he turns around and goes back. When they arrive back, they see that the house is dark and empty. They go inside and see that the father and the possessed girl are gone and there are satanic writings all throughout the house. While outside they hear shoutings coming from deep in the woods. So they all ran out into the woods and saw a gigantic clearing where the town pastor has the possessed girl tied to a table of some sort beside a fire. There is also a handful of townsfolk there as well and the father is seen tied to a tree blindfolded. It turns out that the entire town worships Satan! Then the reverend watch in shock with the rest of the crew when they see the town pastor deliver the possessed girl’s baby (I didn’t even know she was already due.) Then the pastor throws the demon baby into the fire causing it to grow and shape around in a mystical demonic type of way. The priest gets a sudden revelation and begins to march towards the fire with his cross and speaks words from the bible. However the cameraman and the boom operator woman begin to run away when the townspeople see the reverend marching to the fire (it's assumed he is killed off screen)
So anyway you get the typical first person ‘run-through-the-woods’ when suddenly the lady is grabbed by one of the townspeople and hacked into pieces with an axe. The cameraman continues to run and then stops and looks behind him. Finally when he turns around we see the possessed girl's brother with a small hatchet in his hand and he cuts off the cameraman’s head and guess what? The end.
Deciphering The Storyline
(You need to watch it to understand what I am talking about.)
Come to think about it, there were traces of clues all throughout the movie suggesting the ending. But we humans are too obsessed with the details that we forget about the whole big picture. So let’s see if Nell was possessed afterall.
If you are still wondering why only at the end did they show signs on Satanism then you are wrong. Here are some facts to help you out.
Fact 1
Dad withdrew daughter from church school as he figured out something wasn't quite right.
Remember how the father took Nell out of that church b/c he didn't agree with certain things? Because the pastor was a Satanist, and tried to subtly persuade her with the wrong doctrine.
Caleb lost faith after his mum died, got angry with god and looked ended up getting involved with the cult. (Possible)
Nell was forced into taking part in cult activities and presumably was threatened not to tell anyone (if she even remembers).
At the end we see dad tied up, he was innocent. We see Nell give birth to something clearly inhuman, actually translucent and a bright red. It is thrown into the fire, which clearly rises and a demonic sound is heard. The aim is obviously to summon a demon. Cotton realizes this is serious and attempts to stop it.
Fact 2
Remember how Caleb didn't want Cotton performing an exorcism? That is because Caleb was part of the satanic cult.
And remember how quickly Caleb's demeanor changed once he realized Cotton was a fraud? Because he no longer viewed Cotton as a threat to their cult and the plans they had for Nell.
And remember how the lady at the gas station said in that interview, "I believe the gates of Hell are right down that road!"
So…
The whole time the audience was being set-up for the ending - that the church we had been made to believe was good, was actually a satanic cult.
That's it - it's not hard to comprehend - it's very simple; and it's not an "opinion".
Whether you like the supernatural ending or not, it is pretty clear.
Possessed or Not?
The second exorcism showed us that the girl was crazy but not possessed by a demon. because when Cotton was asking her to explain what was a blowjob she was speechless. She was effectively a 14 years virgin girl and not a girl possessed by a demon.
Also, don’t forget that all along Cotton viewed this whole experience as “helping” Nell overcome her emotional and mental blocks, not an actual exorcism. So it is safe to say that when he told the Father that Nell was possessed by the demon called Abalam, who is described as a demon that would encourage lust and desires. Not to mention it would defile certain beings during possession and the only escape was through death, he was cooking everything up and probably just came to that page by flipping through the book. It was also shown that he did not really understand what the book was saying and might have made up the description as well.
If so, how did Nell know where Cotton was staying without him telling her? Did she follow him? What about the voice changes during the second exorcism? Snapping her fingers and neck etc. How would she have known that Cotton did not believe in 'her' - the demon?
And Nell was obviously pregnant as they delivered a baby at the end. Why is that throughout the show she didn’t have a huge belly? Got to be demonic pregnancy.
Remember the picture they saw on the wall showing Cotton burning in the fire and the camera crew is pieces? Now if you recalled, they died exactly the way they were predicted to. Was it set up? Or was that a message from god?
And there were many unanswered questiones.
So who killed all the animals and why?
Who drew the pictures of them dying and why?
Who cut Caleb up and why?
So why did Nell cut Caleb’s face? Because the demon was in control or was he trying to do something to her? When Caleb writes on the paper “Don’t leave her alone with him”, I suspect that he wrote that because he knew that his father was so obsessed with getting rid of the demon that he will kill her like what Cotton said the only salvation was and killing Nell would obviously ruin all the plans the cult has made.
Alright, I have given you enough food for thought. You think it through and decide the ending for yourself.
In my personal opinion though, it seemed like some of the villages belongs to a Satanic cult and wants to summon a demon. They could have offered Nell as the virgin – hot favorite in cult activities – to the demon so that the demon can mate with the animals to produce the demonic child which will be fed to the demon himself or perhaps give the demon some form as the baby we all saw at the end had spikes and looks somewhat like a horse.