The Last Exorcism is a found footage movie about Cotton, a preacher who has lost his faith, wants to expose exorcisms as a fraud in order to save lives ever since less scrupulous exorcists than him have cost people their lives. Cotton is a fraud with a conscience so he invites Iris and Daniel to accompany him and film his latest fraud, a randomly picked request for an exorcism in an isolated part of Louisiana. Cotton resolves to provide the family with desperately needed catharsis, financially provide for his family and do a public service by debunking exorcisms, but is he finally confronting the real deal or has he just met an extraordinarily dysfunctional family blaming ordinary problems on demons?
I watched The Last Exorcism during a global pandemic after Netflix notified me that it would no longer be available for streaming on May 1, 2020. It is incredibly difficult to focus my undivided attention on one thing during this time even if you want to or have the time. Found footage is one of my favorite genres of horror movies. The basic premise is that we get to witness something firsthand as if it happened. I finally found a movie that was able to hold my attention for the entire run time, which is just under ninety minutes.
Demon possession movies get a little old if you make it a habit of watching them, but this one managed to keep the narrative fresh by playing off our skepticism of the supernatural versus the rational. It was clear that the filmmakers were just as sick of certain tropes as horror fans so they paid homage to it without mindlessly sticking to them. There are enough arguments on both sides of the debate to make either equally plausible though if you are watching a horror movie, a viewer understandably leans more towards the prior. Found footage films often make the mistake of being filled with unlikeable, dumb characters, but The Last Exorcism gets viewers invested by making the protagonist, who is a self-professed fraud, and the camera people compassionate, not stupid. I also appreciated the amount of time devoted to developing the protagonist’s background then not taking predictable turns of incorporating his personal with his latest professional exploit though if our positions were reversed, I would have acted differently.
Patrick Fabian does a great job of playing Cotton in The Last Exorcism. He could easily be an unlikeable character because he is a swindler, but Fabian manages to walk the tight rope of being relatable, mischievous and well-intentioned. He is a consistent and honest character for the viewer to follow, and even though I enjoyed this film, I am intrigued at the idea of putting him in a film with a higher caliber horror director such as Ari Aster, who probably would not be interested in him because Aster tends to like broken people, to see what Fabian could really do on a bigger scale. Cotton is an ordinary guy born into a strange family profession who made it work for him. I know that it was not the point of the film, but I would have loved it if somehow his father got more involved because Cotton’s perception versus reality of his family history may not gel.
If I had to complain about The Last Exorcism, it was putting Caleb Landry Jones in the film. Jones is a good actor, but he is typecast so the instant that I saw him, the found footage illusion began to feel like a movie because no one in the real world would let him get within an arm’s reach. If his name does not sound familiar, he is the son in Get Out, and he has been playing sketchy characters for a bit now. The filmmakers actually do a fairly good job of defusing an initially suspicious character, but given his character’s family history, I am not entirely sure if it makes sense that he would take that direction.
There are several early points in The Last Exorcism when the film blatantly gives clues to the ending, but even when I got to the denouement, I was eager to watch more and did not want it to end. I actually paid to rent and stream the sequel, The Last Exorcism Part II, immediately after finishing this movie because I enjoyed it so much and wanted to find out what happened afterwards. If I reference other movies, I will end up spoiling the film, but it was so delightful that I would sign a waiver even though the lessons that could be drawn from the denouement could be dangerous if extrapolated from its cinematic concept and applied in the real world although if I tilt my head just so, it could work for me.
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The Last Exorcism was like a mirror Wicker Man!!!!! So the big twist of the movie is, of course, that demons are real. Cotton thinks they are fake. How will this flawed, but fundamentally decent man of God who feels drawn to the rational world react when he encounters something truly supernatural? The twist that I kind of saw coming: the local preacher is not a Christian, but a very specific demon worshipper and head of a cult. Cotton has no idea, and by inviting him into the father’s home, he unwittingly brings death and destruction at the door of the family that he wants to save. The father is not some sinister, evil dude isolating his kids. His instincts were correct to homeschool them, keep them out of church and not go to the medical community for help. Now if you lean right politically, this moment is a complete vindication of all your beliefs—only you as an individual are correctly interpreting what God says. Do not listen to any pastor or alleged expert. You are right even if you think killing your kids is the only way to save them. Scary lesson, right?
As a person brought up fundamentalist, I found the denouement’s implication disturbing, but I decided to look at The Last Exorcism’s ending in another way. It is the perfect film for disenchanted Christians trying to find a balance between our past and present, the mind and the spirit. Cotton is not wrong to ask for scientific help because without it, he would not have discovered the supernatural phenomenon, that Nell is pregnant with a demon’s baby. In the end, he discovers a pure, self-sacrificial faith and is willing to answer the calling as the most recent in a long line of family exorcists. Cotton, the fraud, is actually the purest of faith because he is open to critiquing and ridiculing the established church structure, leave hypocrisy and charlatanism behind, embrace science and rational thought, but also accept the existence of the spiritual world and fight evil even at the expense of his life and the well-being of his family to save children. Cotton is an ordinary man, but a hero, and is a paragon of faith that any Christian should emulate.
The Last Exorcism was prophetic. How many alleged, self-professed Christian leaders are actually leading their children to death and destruction, willing to sacrifice others so that they can get some elusive glory on earth? Let’s all be Cotton, even if he loses.