6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 2.6 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
A Reverend and disillusioned charlatan comes to face something he never met before after recruiting a documentary film crew to capture the final exorcism of his career.
Starring: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, Caleb Landry JonesHorror | 100% |
Thriller | 67% |
Supernatural | 33% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy (as download)
DVD copy
BD-Live
Social network features
Mobile features
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
One from Column A, two from Column B. Too often films are cobbled together from a menu of previously released blockbusters, and the results are often akin to that less than appetizing casserole your Mom used to make from leftovers every few weeks. The dearth of new ideas in filmdom is so prevalent that it really isn’t hard to imagine pitch meetings consisting of shorthand summaries made up entirely of movie titles. “It’s going to be Legally Blonde meets Night of the Living Dead.” Sold!. There’s little doubt that The Last Exorcism is a mélange of several other films and/or literary properties, but the wonder is how brilliantly the film manages to reinvent the horror genre even as it mines a lot of well worn clichés. Take a smattering of The Blair Witch Project, mix liberally with large doses of The Exorcist, season with hints of Rosemary’s Baby and Thomas Tryon’s brilliant novel (pretty much ruined in its telefilm adaptation) Harvest Home, and you have some idea of what’s in store for you in The Last Exorcism.
I hate it when my comedic thunder is stolen, but The Hollywood Reporter evidently got to “my” dazzling punchline first, with which I was going to subtitle this review, calling The Last Exorcism "The Linda Blair Witch Project", something that danced into my head with alluringly devilish humor as I watched this film which blends Blair Witch’s faux documentary style with a storyline built around demonic possession of a young girl, a la The Exorcist. What adds a significant degree of interest to the film is that its purported hero (actually a rather charming huckster in the best televangelist mode), Reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), is a self-admitted fraud, a man who performs fake exorcisms for the moolah they bring in, while rationalizing his mendacity by stating—perhaps truthfully—that since the “afflicted” people he’s “helping” only think they’re possessed (since Marcus doesn’t believe in possession), he’s really performing a mental health service of sorts by letting these souls feel like they’ve been cleansed of the devils inside them.
Ummm. . .aren't the camerapeople supposed to stay out of the frame?
Like The Blair Witch Project before it, The Last Exorcism virtually exudes a lo-fi ambience that is at odds with a hi-def presentation. While the video quality of The Last Exorcism's AVC encoded 1080p 1.78:1 image is heads and shoulders above that of Blair Witch, anyone thinking they're in for a sparklingly sharp and clear picture with this film is sure to be disappointed. Contrast is often low to negligible, night scenes are overrun with grain and fuzziness, and even daytime scenes don't completely bristle with fine detail. And yet, through it all, The Last Exorcism manages to look pretty darn good. It certainly is an apt representation of what director Stamm and DP Zoltan Honti were going for. (And may I just say that Zoltan Honti would make a great name for a horror film character). The sharpest segments of this film, at least in terms of a "traditional" hi-def presentation, are undoubtedly the prelminary scenes set in the Marcus home and church, where things are well lit and colors, contrast and fine detail all pop accordingly. Once we get into the dark and dank world of the Sweetzer Farm, things become murkier, no doubt intentionally so. If you go with this film's obviously purposeful lo-fi ethos, there's a lot to enjoy in this video presentation.
There should be no complaints of any kind about The Last Exorcism's astoundingly effective DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix. You might think that this film would opt for a similarly lo-fi sonic approach, but instead we're privy to an increasingly immersive experience that surrounds the listener with a variety of startling effects, everything from rapid breathing to sudden smashes and crashes which will get the adrenaline of most people pumping. The best thing about this film's sound design, and the Blu-ray's lossless track, is the excellent decision not to slather the film in underscore cues. In fact, Nathan Barr's very effective score sometimes consists of just a second or two of creepy low end accompaniment to some of the more disturbing sequences, and it ups the sonic ante considerably. Dialogue throughout the film is clear and precise, though several times voices are intentionally muted and muffled. There's also clear attention paid not only to placement within the sound field but also more subtle effects like the echo-laden confines of the Sweetzer farmhouse versus the dissipating effects of screams heard outdoors.
Several good to excellent supplements are included on the BD disc:
After posting my review of it here on Blu-ray.com, I found out I wasn't alone in thinking The Blair Witch Project was a decidedly less than gripping film, at least for some of us. The Last Exorcism revisits Blair's faux documentary setup, but this film actually delivers some palpable thrills and chills along the way, instead of just hinting at them. Yes, you've seen large swaths of this film before in various other progenitors, but writers Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland deserve kudos for playing against expectations rather smartly a lot of the time. Fabian and Bell are excellent in the leads, and the entire film bristles with the best kind of lo-fi indie horror energy. Highly recommended.
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