The Last Exorcism Information

The Last Exorcism is a 2010 American found footage supernatural horror film directed and edited by Daniel Stamm. It stars Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, and Louis Herthum.

The film follows a disillusioned evangelical minister, who after years of performing exorcisms decides to participate in a documentary chronicling his last exorcism while exposing the fraud of his ministry. After receiving a letter from a farmer asking for help in driving out the devil, he meets the farmer's afflicted daughter.

Plot

The Reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with his wife and son. Marcus, who lost his faith after the birth of his ill son, is accustomed to performing fake exorcisms on "possessed" individuals. He agrees to take part in a documentary designed to expose exorcism as a fraud, working with a film crew consisting of producer/director Iris Reisen (Iris Bahr) and cameraman Daniel Moskowitz (Adam Grimes). He chooses an exorcism request sent by farmer Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum), who claims his live stock is being slaughtered by his daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) who is possessed.

After listening to the details of the case, Marcus claims Nell is possessed by a powerful demon named Abalam. Prior to the exorcism, Marcus bamboozles the family into believing he is driving out a demon. After the ritual, Marcus and his film crew leave, believing they have cured her of a mental state that was misdiagnosed as a possession. That night, Nell appears in Marcus' motel room, apparently unwell. Marcus takes Nell to the hospital for tests, which conclude that Nell is in perfect physical condition. Marcus goes to see Louis' former pastor, Joseph Manley. Manley informs Marcus that he has not seen Nell for two years. In the morning, Louis takes Nell home, but chains her to her bed after she slices her brother Caleb's (Caleb Landry Jones) face with a knife. That night, the crew finds a drawing of a dead cat.

Nell steals their camera and goes into her father's barn, where she brutally smashed the camera at a cat to death while filming it with a camera. She returns to the house and approaches Marcus with the camera, and just as she's about to make contact, the crew stop her. The crew then discovers two more of her paintings. The first depicts Marcus standing before a large flame, holding up a crucifix. The second shows the dead bodies of the crew: Marcus being consumed by the flame in the other picture, Iris hacked to pieces with an axe, and Dan decapitated (foreshadowing the events to come). When everyone learns Nell is pregnant, Marcus accuses Louis of incest, which he denies, insisting that Nell is a virgin and has been defiled by the demon. The crew has a confrontation with Nell, who slashes Marcus's hand with a pair of scissors and flees. The crew decides to leave; when they see Nell sitting on the porch, Marcus approaches her and she tackles him. Louis is about to kill Nell with his shotgun, while Nell is begging him to. To keep Louis from killing her, Marcus gives him hope by deciding to attempt another exorcism.

Marcus confronts the entity, Abalam, who agrees to release Nell only if Marcus can remain silent for ten seconds. Abalam begins breaking Nell's fingers as it counts aloud. After breaking three of her fingers, Marcus yells for Abalam to stop. Abalam then asks Marcus if he wants a "blowing job." Marcus realizes that a demon would know the actual name of the sex act and concludes that Nell is not a demon, but a very disturbed girl. Nell anguishes over losing her virginity to a boy named Logan, resulting in her mental breakdown rather than possession. Marcus arranges for Pastor Manley to come to the house, and leaves. On their way home, Marcus and the crew meet Logan, who explains that the only contact he had with Nell was a brief conversation 6 months ago at a party held at Pastor Manley's home. Logan admits that he is gay and therefore did not have sex with her. Marcus realizes that Pastor Manley was lying about having not seen Nell for two years. He returns to the Sweetzer farmhouse, where they find numerous occult and countercultural symbols on the walls, and Nell and Louis missing.

Marcus and the crew wander into the woods, where they see a large fire and a congregation of hooded cultists, led by Pastor Manley. Louis is tied up, gagged, and blindfolded while hooded figures pray around an altar, atop which Nell is bound. She gives birth to an inhuman child. Manley throws the child into the fire, which causes the fire to grow rapidly as demonic roars emanate from within. At that moment, Marcus' faith is resolved as he grabs his cross and rushes towards the fire to combat the evil. Iris and Daniel are discovered; Iris is tackled by a member of the congregation and killed with an axe. Daniel continues to run, until he stops to take a deep breath. He then looks around if he was followed, before turning back to find Caleb, who is wearing clean clothes and a bandage covering his wound. Caleb then decapitates Daniel and the camera falls to the ground, before it cuts out.

Cast

• Patrick Fabian as Cotton Marcus
• Ashley Bell as Nell Sweetzer
• Iris Bahr as Iris Reisen
• Louis Herthum as Louis Sweetzer
• Caleb Landry Jones as Caleb Sweetzer
• Tony Bentley as Pastor Manley
• Shanna Forrestall as Mrs. Marcus
• Becky Fly as Becky
• Denise Lee as Nurse
• Logan Craig Reid as Logan
• Adam Grimes as Daniel Moskowitz
• Jamie Alyson Caudle as Satanic worshipper (uncredited)
• Allen Boudreaux as Satanic worshipper (uncredited)

Production

The Last Exorcism was directed by German independent filmmaker Daniel Stamm and produced by Eric Newman, Eli Roth, Marc Abraham, and Thomas A. Bliss. The film was shot using shaky camera, it was also shot in 'found footage' style (Stamm has previously directed A Necessary Death, another 'found footage' film). Strike Entertainment and StudioCanal hold the theatrical rights.

Release

The film was slated to be a part of the South by Southwest Film Festival 2010. However, on February 12, 2010, Lionsgate purchased the rights for the US Distribution and pulled the film from the SXSW fest and set the release of the film for August 27, 2010.

The film had its world premiere at the LA Film Festival on June 24, 2010 and was here introduced by Eli Roth and Daniel Stamm. Members of the cast were also introduced on stage, Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Louis Herthum, Caleb Landry Jones, Iris Bahr, and Tony Bentley. The Last Exorcism was the last screened film on August 30, 2010, on the Film4 FrightFest 2010.

Bloody Disgusting hosted the screening of the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con International and the second screening on 24 July 2010 is narrated by Eli Roth.

Poster controversy

In the UK, a poster image for the film showed a young girl, wearing a blood-spattered dress, bent over backwards below a crucifix. This poster received 77 complaints, the complainants describing it as "offensive", "distressing", and "unsuitable for public viewing". Two people also claimed the girl in the poster seemed to have suffered a sexual assault, a complaint which was not upheld. Despite this tiny number of complaints, the Advertising Standards Agency decided that the image could not be used on a publicly visible poster since that was an untargeted medium but was acceptable on the back cover of Cineworld magazine.

Viral campaign

The Last Exorcism used Chatroulette as the medium of its viral campaign involving a girl who pretends to unbutton her top seductively, then stops and turns into a monster. At the end, the URL of the film's official website is flashed on screen.

Home media

The Last Exorcism was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 4, 2011. The Blu-ray includes the DVD of the film and a digital copy as well.

Reception

Critical

The Last Exorcism has received generally positive reviews from critics, garnering a 73% "Fresh" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 148 reviews, with the site's consensus being "It doesn't fully deliver on the chilly promise of its Blair Witch-style premise, but The Last Exorcism offers a surprising number of clever thrills." The film received a 63 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". At Yahoo! Movies the film holds a B- based on twelve reviews.

Box office

The Last Exorcism opened at #2 at the U.S. box office the weekend of August 27, 2010, behind Takers. It grossed $20,366,613 from 2,874 theaters in its first three days. The Last Exorcism had a budget of $1.8 million. The film remained in the top five, falling to number four in its second weekend. The film went on to gross $41 million domestically and $26.7 million foreign to total $67.7 million worldwide.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result
2011	People's Choice Award	Favorite Horror Movie
	Independent Spirit Award	Best First Feature	Daniel Stamm
	MTV Movie Award	Best Scared-As-Shit Performance	Ashley Bell
	Empire Awards	Best Horror

Sequel

See The Last Exorcism Part II for more information On August 23, 2011, The Hollywood Reporter announced that a sequel was in the works. On April 20, 2012, an audition sheet revealed the film's full title as Beginning of the End: The Last Exorcism II. The film was directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly, with Damien Chazelle (Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench) providing the screenplay. Ashley Bell reprises her role as Nell. On January 2, 2013, the poster for the film was released, revealing the final title to be The Last Exorcism Part II. The film is again produced by Eli Roth.