Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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Here Kitty Kitty The Last Exorcism (Rated R) by HEATHER GRIFFITHS At first The Last Exorcism (87 minutes) seemed like one more rip off of The Blair Witch Project, with the found footage angle and shaky cam. All in all though, considering the scare quality that many Blair Witch rip offs offer an audience, that’s not necessarily a scathing indictment. Director Daniel Stamm hasn’t done much, but he manages to showcase some good scares. Unfortunately, his found footage con- cept is a little too polished to allow suspension of disbelief and not quite polished enough to sustain the illusion he attempts to create. Reverend Cotton Marcus (creepily cute Patrick Fabian) is an evangelical pastor living in Baton Rouge, La. The central concept of the film is a documentary film maker (that obviously lacks experience with setting up and using a Steadicam) is going to film the pastor doing his last exorcism. Although, up until this point Marcus has performed many exorcisms, the recent death of a child has put him off his vocation. How exactly this film crew hooked up with the Reverend is left to our imagi- nations, and the inconsistencies involved in the way the idea of “the last exor- cism” is narrated goes unexplained. Of course, one wonders why he didn’t find a better cameraman, since the one filming comes off as very amateurish. In any case, Marcus picks a plea at random from his exorcism express P. O. Box. This letter is from Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum) who claims that his daughter Nell (Ashley Bell, AKA Michael Cera in a long blonde wig) is pos- sessed. Marcus finds the farm after a confrontation with Creepy Ginger Caleb (Caleb Landry Jones). Once there, the crew films an interview with Dad and Daughter about the events occurring on the farm. A natural showman, Marcus arranges a special effects show to illustrate how easy it is to fool the humble uninformed who are gracious enough to invite him in Unfortunately, Nell doesn’t get the “You’re Cured” memo, and she ends up in a motel five miles from her home. Dad fetches her home and allows her to continue wearing the rather grimy nightgown that she apparently took a hike in, although her bare feet are pretty clean at this point. Maybe she has a closetful of heavy white lace nightgowns? Anyways, the crew ends up staying with Nell while Dad scoots off to take care of some errands … and that’s when things get poorly lit and creepy. Without giving anything away, I’ll mention the word baby and the word bathwater … and what- ever it is you’re picturing right now, what actually happens is at least 10 times creepier. Especially considering what happens later in the film. At some point Nell decides to make a lovely vibrant picture of a pretty white kitty, the Reverend Marcus and the film crew. Then she wonders off into the night to do creepy things and get farm crud all over herself. Despite her general filthiness at this point in the film, she is continually put back into bed without a nice refresh- ing bath or even a clean nightgown. I guess the film crew isn’t planning to stick around for the cleaning up party. Things keep spiraling downward, and indecision abounds (leading to a series of hijinks both wacky and bloody. The answering machine provides the now vaguely uncomfortable trio with a revelation, although whether or not the film crew got nosy and played someone else’s messages or the family doctor is happy to call after hours is a bit of a mystery. The narrative nears resolution, only to bound back towards confusion and last minute twisting. Overall, better than many high-budget horror movies, and at least as good as many indie horror pics. HEATHER GRIFFITHS, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM SEPTEMBER 15-21, 2010 UCW 31