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The Last Exorcism – Review (second opinion)

reviewed by Skot
directed by Daniel Stamm, 2010
(read Melissa’s review here)
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If you believe in God, you have to believe in the Devil.”  Or so said the reverend Cotton Marcus in Eli Roth’s new movie, The Last Exorcism.  That’s even the tagline on some of the move posters.  Actually, I think he’s got it wrong.  It should be the other way around: “if you believe in the Devil, then you must believe in God.”  And this is the point the movie ends up making.

What should we make of the movie poster with a crucifix and the words, “Believe in Him” above it?  The girl in the poster is bowing in submission, though contorted into a grotesque version of a believer paying devotion before the symbol of the Lord.  Pictures mean things.  And I’m still wondering what this one means.

Cotton Marcus is the magnetic pastor of a pentecostal-ish congregation in the deep South.  He started preaching in his dad’s church when he was 8 years old.  He’s a born performer.  Doing exorcisms has been a family ministry, passed from father to son, for generations.  However, during a family crisis, Cotton discovers that his faith is lost.  He continued the charade of his ministry, even the exorcisms, because. . . well, it’s a living.  And besides, he figured he was basically helping people.  Things change again when he learns of an episode where a child is accidentally killed during an exorcism.  This is his turning point.  Cotton decides to blow his own cover by performing one last exorcism with a documentary film crew recording his spiritual warfare sleight of hand.  The minister randomly chooses one of the frequent letters he receives from troubled souls requesting his services and off they go.

They arrive at the Sweetzer farm in poor rural Louisiana where they meet Nell, an angelically innocent girl whose father is convinced she is inhabited by the Devil.  Cotton employs his usual tricks, allowing the camera see how he does things behind the scenes.  Things get interesting when the counterfeit demon slayer comes up against something real.

To say more about the plot would be to give too much away.  The central question is whether the devil is real and, if so, what implications should this have on one’s belief in God.

When I heard that Eli Roth was producing The Last Exorcism, I expected more than I got, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  Actually, I appreciate the comparative restraint this movie exercises.  Too many occult themed movies feel the need to top the last in terms of shock and awe, leading many into the realm of the absurd.  A general rule of thumb for storytellers is to show, not to tell.  But one can show too much.  Equally important to restraint and good editing is timing.  If you must show, then do so at the exact best time to have the greatest impact.

Many people I’ve talked to say they disliked the ending.  The director definitely took a risk.  In my opinion, the ending is not entirely satisfying, but it wasn’t  a total miss.  I needed just a little bit more.  The film is good, not great.  It takes the increasingly popular found footage approach, which still works for me.

Take a little bit Rosemary’s Baby, a little bit The Exorcist, a little bit Blair Witch Project and more than a smidge of The Exorcism of Emily Rose.  Stir them on a low heat and you get this new film.  The Last Exorcism is not nearly as good as any of the above mentioned projects, but is still probably better than most occult-themed films.

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The Last Exorcism – Review

reviewed by Melissa
directed by Daniel Stamm, 2010
(read Skot’s review here)
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The Last Exorcism is directed by Daniel Stamm produced be Eli Roth and stars Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell.   It is the story of a disillusioned preacher who has decided to do a documentary showing how exorcisms can be faked.   The movie begins with Reverend Cotton Marcus being filmed for a documentary exposing exorcism hoaxes. Cotton has done over a hundred exorcisms and has decided to prove that they are a hoax after reading about a boy that was killed during an exorcism. Patrick has gathered a film crew for one last exorcism to expose how he fools people into believing he has exorcised a demon.

Cotton randomly picks a letter he has received about a girl who is possessed named Nell Sweetzer. Patrick and the crew go to the Sweetzer rural farmhouse where the sixteen year old lives with her older brother and father. Once they arrive Cotton realizes that Nell has problems. Having lost her mother to cancer she seems to be suffering psychological issues and is killing the family livestock, though she has no memory of these acts.   Cotton does a fake exorcism and then tells the family she is fine and leaves to go to a hotel for the night. Nell shows up at Cotton’s hotel room that evening in a catatonic state. Cotton and the film crew take Nell to the hospital and then back home. The next day Nell attacks her brother Caleb which prompts the return of Reverend Cotton and the film crew.

The remainder of the movie takes place with Cotton and the film crew trying to talk Nell’s father in to the fact his daughter needs counseling and her father convinced she is possessed by a demon.  While this debate is going on Nell is spiraling out of control with devastating results.

I was incredibly excited to see this movie and the first 80 minutes of it did not let me down. From the opening scene with Cotton I liked him. He was a fraud but I took to him and he made me laugh. He does seem to care about people and this is why he is out to expose exorcisms as hoaxes. He has lost his faith but through out the whole movie I was cheering for him and hoping he regained it.

I thought the cinematography was engrossing and felt like a documentary. I felt like I was watching something on the Discovery channel. The camera did an amazing job of searching out the rooms and catching a glimpse of what was going on beyond the camera lens. I would hear noises and was afraid what the camera was going to find, and there were really no cheap shocks in the entire movie. I also thought the movie built at a very good pace. I felt engrossed with the characters and I was involved with the plot. The movie kept building and building at a steady pace to the climax. That is where the movie takes a turn for the worse. The last 10 minutes of the film disgusted me as all this incredible build up was destroyed in one cheesy conclusion. I say that because I loved the film up to that point and was very involved, then they tied up the story line in 10 minutes and it was uninspired.

The movie was ruined for me with the ending but it is worth a see because Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell do an outstanding job and the cinematography helps to propel the storyline.

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Piranha 3D – Review (second opinion)

reviewed by Danny
directed by Alexandre Aja, 2010
(to read hallo’s review of Piranha 3D, click here)
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One of the main characters of Piranha 3D is a soft-core porn producer named Derrick Jones (played perfectly by Jerry O’Connell) . The character is clearly based on Girl’s Gone Wild founder Joe Francis, an undeniable sleezeball who finds little support in any corner of society not littered with frat boys or drunken college girls, so it is no surprise to see the film take a number of well-placed shots at his broad target. Unfortunately, the Jones character seems to exist not as a vehicle for parody but simply as a way to justify a boatload (actually, many boatloads) of gratuitous nudity. Still, aside from one over-the-top bit of soft-core ogling, the T&A is pretty standard and accurately reflects what goes on during Spring Break in various sunny destinations. More importantly, the scares and gore that are the real attraction for most horror fans are here in full force.

Piranha 3D is less a remake of the original cult classic as it is another riff on the theme. The film removes the military angle and the local politics and basically avoids wasting screen time on anything that isn’t naked or being eaten. It’s a purity that I appreciate. The opening scene, in which Jaws alum Richard Dreyfuss becomes the first victim of prehistoric piranha released into the lake by an earthquake that has opened up a connection with a large underground lake, is a stunner. It starts the film off right while also getting about 50% of the exposition out of the way quickly.

We get the rest of the exposition in the next few scenes where we meet the local sheriff (played by the extremely likable Elizabeth Shue), her teen son and his younger siblings, and the aforementioned Derrick Jones, his cameraman, and two bathing beauties. When the son takes a job scouting locations for the film crew, he leaves his younger siblings to fend for themselves (which doesn’t go well). Add a romantic subplot between the son and a high school friend that Jones is trying to talk out of her bikini, mix in a school of angry, battle-scarred piranha, shake well, and you have a recipe for a killer monster movie done right.

And, for the most part, it is.  The main set pieces (the collapse of a floating stage, a boat-to-boat rope climb) are done very well.  All the characters we want to die violently do so.  Those that need a heroic send off, get one.  The 3D is used to good effect throughout though it still feels like a gimmick instead of being fully integrated into the cinematography.  The blood and guts level is super high and some of the deaths are just awesome.  Jones especially gets a graphic send off that seems to be exactly what he deserves, and it sent the audience I saw it with into fits of laughter.

For fans of the genre, Piranha 3D is a lot of fun.  It isn’t for everyone—an eight minute long nude synchronized swimming scene involving two of the “wild girls” is ridiculously graphic and unnecessary–but the film is good fun for gore hounds who can handle a bit of gratuitous T&A with their horror.

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Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter – Review

reviewed by hallo
directed by Joseph Zito, 1984
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The formula for a successful Friday the 13th film had been firmly established by the time part 4 (The Final Chapter) graced the silver screen in 1984.  It was established so well that the film, intending to be the last in the series, grossed enough money to make Paramount Pictures rethink killing the franchise.  Obviously, they decided to bring Jason back – time and time and time again.

So, The Final Chapter is a classic Friday the 13th film, filled with a bunch of silly young people who get knocked off one-by-one by the maniacal and revengeful Jason Vorhees.  The fun part of this particular film is a young Corey Feldman playing Tommy Jarvis, a character that will be reprised in two more films.  The character and personality of Tommy Jarvis fit the style of Corey Feldman quite well and the character is actually believable, unlike virtually every other character in the film who simply exists to be creatively killed.  Death scenes include a corkscrew to the forehead (of Crispin Glove, AKA George McFly), a couple of impalements, a harpoon to a crotch, a nasty collision with some shower tile, a finger through the eye, and an axe to the head.  Nice.

The ending of the film is the best since the original.  Tommy Jarvis ends up shaving his head to resemble a young Jason Vorhees.  The ploy works long enough to distract Jason so that Tommy’s sister, Trish, can get the upper hand.  Tommy eventually flips out and ends up taking a machete to the corpse of a presumed dead Jason about fifty times.  It is actually a pretty freaky little scene to see Tommy with a shaved head going crazy on Jason yelling “Die Die Die” the entire time.  This whacked out ending will be used in part 5 to explain the thrust of that film’s plot.

This one is probably the best since the original or at least a close tie with part 2.  That, of course, is a relative statement and remains a pretty bad horror movie.  But as I have said all along through this series of reviews, if you like slasher films and don’t mind the same, tired formula, then it is hard to go wrong with a Friday the 13th film.  This one is no different.

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Piranha 3D – Review

reviewed by hallo
directed by Alexandre Aja, 2010
(to read Danny’s review of Piranha 3D, click here)
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Anytime the initial scene of a horror movie reveals someone hanging out in a boat in the middle of a seemingly deserted lake, you can bet your bottom dollar that extreme campiness will follow (Lake Placid, Hatchet).  Piranha 3D keeps that tradition alive.  After a small earthquake creates an opening to a separate underground lake that had been sealed off from the main Lake Victoria for millions of years, a deadly species of piranha, presumed to have been been extinct for years, are now able to make their way to Lake Victoria.  The arrival of the flesh-eating fish is ill-timed since it is spring break week and thousands of hormone filled young people are enjoying their free time on the lake.  The stage is set for hardcore carnage.

The movie follows the plight of young Jake, a teenager still living at home under the care of his mom, who is also the town sherrif, played wonderfully by Elizabeth Shue.  Instead of fulfilling his obligations as a babysitter to his younger brother and sister, Jake sets out on a boat with a small crew from a “Girls Gone Wild” rip-off as their “location scout.”  While on the lake, the piranha discover the buffet of people available to them and the crystal clear water soon turns dark red.  Lots of blood and lots of body parts make up the rest of the film.

A quick perusal of RottenTomatoes.com will show a “fresh” rating of 81%.  What is interesting about the reviews, however, is that many critics associated with RottenTomatoes.com echo sentiments similar to Beth Accomando who says, “The new Piranha 3D lived down to my absolute lowest expectations and I say that with nothing but gleeful affection.”  I, unfortunately, agree with her assessment but cannot agree with her conclusion.  Despite some strong performances and a few effective death scenes which I will mention below, the film falls woefully short.

The primary reason for my disappoint with the film is its ridiculously over-the-top sexual exploitation.  Whereas many horror films effectively utilize sexuality to improve the telling of the story, Piranha 3D simply needed something for the viewers to watch in-between kill scenes.  That something was a bunch of sex-starved college students going a step beyond the antics of Mardi-Gras relocated on an otherwise serene lake.  A few times during the film I was embarrassed to be in the theater even though I was by myself.  I am also getting a bit weary of movies doing a rip-off of “Girls Gone Wild” as a main part of their storyline.  It was just too much.

I was also disappointed with both the 3-D filming and the underwater struggles with the piranhas.  Many times, thanks to a massive amount of blood and the lack of clarity with the 3-D, much of the action was unrecognizable.  You couldn’t really make out what you were watching much of time during underwater scenes.  Add to that the reality that Piranha 3D has absolutely nothing to say about anything (by design no doubt) and I am left underwhelmed.

Nevertheless, the film does have its bright spots.  Elizabeth Shue is wonderful, as always, and brought a much needed serious tone to the film.  Her performance was especially interesting after recently podcasting on the topic of whether or not horror movies are misogynistic.  Richard Dreyfus, who is the unfortunate soul to first meet the piranhas, was fun to watch although he reminded you how much better Jaws is than this film.  For me, the highlight of the movie was a brief appearance by Christopher Lloyd as the old scientist who correctly identified the species of piranha unleashed in the lake.  It was as if Doc Brown had shifted his scientific prowess from a time travel expert to an ichthyologist.

Amid the mostly disappointing and convoluted kill scenes were a few memorable ones.  The best by far was the burrowing of a piranha into the stomach of a helpless lady only to explode out of her mouth a few moments later.  There was also a nice scene of a boat line falling down and slicing a young lady in half – Aja allowed 5-6 seconds of time to elapse before showing that she had been cut.

Overall, I am glad I saw the movie.  It is certainly possible that my expectations for the film were way too high.  I can’t fully recommend it and would heavily caution parents before allowing young people to see this film.  Yet, it is fun in parts, there is a great cast, and every now then you will find yourself smiling.  I guess that is more than I can say for a lot of horror films out there.  Proceed with caution.

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The House of the Devil- Review

reviewed by Danny
directed by Ti West, 2009
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Ti West’s camera is smarter than his characters.  Note how, when young Samantha, desperately in need of money for a new apartment, walks past a job-postings board,  the camera stays behind and allows Samantha to move off-screen as it zooms in on the “Babysitter Needed” posting.  It is only the first sign of how sharp the camera is and of just how much dramatic irony West is going to filter this classic horror story through.  Later, the camera will show us a room full of bloody corpses that Samantha won’t find out about until it is way too late.  It is commonplace in a horror film for the audience to be at least slightly more aware of the danger than the protagonist, but in the case of The House of the Devil, we are not only aware that the characters are in a horror film, we know exactly what kind of horror film it is.  And, we know it is going to end badly.

After the creepiest hire in the history of horror films, Samantha has the job and finds herself alone in a large house while the “parents” go off to watch a rare lunar eclipse.  As aware viewers, we know that there is a significance to the lunar eclipse, we know that Tom Noonan is more than a bit creepy, and we know that the best friend that dropped her off isn’t going to be coming back to pick her up.  Samantha only comes by these realizations slowly, and the film allows her to gradually become aware of her situations, to gradually grow more and more tense, and, finally, to become afraid.  The lyrical pacing lets the viewer progress with Samantha, even though we know where the road leads.  In the end, we are frightened for her and with her.

Part of the fallout from the recent success of the “torture porn” sub-genre (Hostel, the Saw films) is that many critics and horror-film lovers are waxing nostalgic for the days when “less was more.”  It is easy to find articles and forum posts discussing how much better horror films were when they chose not to show the viewer every grisly detail.  Well, here is a film for those horror fans.  The House of the Devil is set in the 1980s, but its influences are much older.  Its subject matter is straight out of the 1970s, but its tool set is older still.  Think Val Lewton or Todd Browning or, closer to the period and subject, Rosemary’s Baby.  Up until the absolute crisis moment when Samantha is actually in the hands of those wanting to sacrifice her, West avoids slamming down the gas pedal.  The film stays on cruise control.  Sure, her friend is killed violently on-screen, but the whole scene is less than a minute long.  We see the bodies of the family that really lived in the creepy house, but only for just long enough for us to realize what we are seeing.  The rest of the time we are treated to Samantha wandering about the house, slowly noticing that things aren’t right.  Then, the killers come for her and the film explodes.

Those late scenes where Samantha is fighting for her life, showing toughness and awareness we weren’t prepared for, are gripping.  It has been a long time since I rooted for a horror-film protagonist the way I rooted for Samantha.  Her encounter with the devil/demon is agonizing mostly because we have taken the journey with her and not been pulled out by constant beheadings, slashing of Achilles’ tendons, or buckets of blood.

If the film had ended after the encounter with the devil and his cult, The House of the Devil would easily move in to my short list of must-see horror films.  It doesn’t.  There is an unsatisfying epilogue clearly inspired by the classic films that the film references throughout.  The problem is that those denouements were often the weakest part of the classic films and the same is true here.  Still, even with an ending I could have done without, The House of the Devil is the best new horror film I’ve seen since Let the Right One In, and I recommend it without hesitation to film fans looking for a more lyrical and patient horror film.

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