The Last Exorcism

Hexmage-PA

This movie is awesome. Go watch it, then come back and talk about it.

I personally liked this movie more than I did Machete. It was very entertaining and had a great ending. It suffers from the "characters staying in situations that would cause real people to GTFO", but then we wouldn't have a movie.

Robos A Go Go

I ended up seeing it last week, just because I have a friend who'll see any horror movie that comes out.

I enjoyed the first half the most, as I felt the film offered an interesting twist on the standard exorcism plot. The lead actress was equal parts charming and creepy, the character of the exorcist went against genre conventions

by being both a con artist and a well-meaning individual

, and the ambiguity surrounding events kept things interesting.

I wasn't sold on the ending, though.

While I was thrilled by the image of the exorcist walking toward the fireball and appreciated the fact that his survival was an open question, the run through the woods and revelation about the girl's brother felt clumsy. Yes, him being a cultist adds a new element to the protectiveness he shows early in the film, but the fact that he has no role in the story after his injury causes his sudden reappearance to feel more like a cheap shock than anything else.

Also, if the girl was possessed so she could give birth to some kind of demon thing, then her behavior throughout the film makes no sense whatsoever. Why is the demon inside her calling attention to itself and, in doing so, threatening its very existence? It's only because of the killings that her father and the exorcist are a threat to her. Take the strange behavior away, and she gives birth in peace.

Really, I think a better approach would have been to make it so the normal version of the girl was the demon and the psychotic, seemingly possessed version was actually her true self trying to get out. Not only would that have been yet another twist on genre conventions, but it also would have given the brother a plausible reason for supporting the possession (wanting a normal sister).

Bionic Monkey

Eh, it was alright. It definitely fell apart at the end. And one part just doesn't make sense to me;

The "blowing job" thing at the end "proving" that she wasn't actually possessed. Except she actually was possessed, so what the fuck was that all about? It felt like they just needed a reason to psych out the audience, and hammered a square peg into a round hole to achieve it.

Hexmage-PA

Robos A Go Go wrote: »

Also, if the girl was possessed so she could give birth to some kind of demon thing, then her behavior throughout the film makes no sense whatsoever. Why is the demon inside her calling attention to itself and, in doing so, threatening its very existence? It's only because of the killings that her father and the exorcist are a threat to her. Take the strange behavior away, and she gives birth in peace.

She's giving birth to a demon. Why would a demon want its birth to be peaceful?

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

Eh, it was alright. It definitely fell apart at the end. And one part just doesn't make sense to me;

The "blowing job" thing at the end "proving" that she wasn't actually possessed. Except she actually was possessed, so what the fuck was that all about? It felt like they just needed a reason to psych out the audience, and hammered a square peg into a round hole to achieve it.

I feel like the demon wanted to get the exorcist to come so that he could convince the girl's father that she wasn't really possessed and to let the pastor/satanic cult leader initiate the ritual giving birth to the demon without the father interfering.

Robos A Go Go

Hexmage-PA wrote: »

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

Eh, it was alright. It definitely fell apart at the end. And one part just doesn't make sense to me;

The "blowing job" thing at the end "proving" that she wasn't actually possessed. Except she actually was possessed, so what the fuck was that all about? It felt like they just needed a reason to psych out the audience, and hammered a square peg into a round hole to achieve it.

I feel like the demon wanted to get the exorcist to come so that he could convince the girl's father that she wasn't really possessed and to let the pastor/satanic cult leader initiate the ritual giving birth to the demon without the father interfering.

But the only reason they're able to convince the father she isn't possessed is because the demon suddenly stops acting like a possessed girl and then concocts a believable cover story. If the demon could do that, then why act possessed and call the attention of the father and the exorcist in the first place?

I know most people would probably let this slide, but I think that even a demon's motivation ought to make sense. Otherwise, the story just falls apart.

P.S. The main girl is well over 18 years old, so it's okay to think she was cute.

Which I did.

Organichu

wait

in regards to one of the spoilers

does this movie involve a possessed teenager giving a blowjob? because if so i know what i'm doing this weeked

Hexmage-PA

Organichu wrote: »

wait

in regards to one of the spoilers

does this movie involve a possessed teenager giving a blowjob? because if so i know what i'm doing this weeked

No.

But there is mention of a blowing job.

Bionic Monkey

Organichu wrote: »

wait

in regards to one of the spoilers

does this movie involve a possessed teenager giving a blowjob? because if so i know what i'm doing this weeked

No, seriously... this spoils a major climactic event in the movie.

While "possessed" and talking as the demon, the girl offers the preacher a "blowing job" which clues him in to the fact that she's not actually possessed because a demon would know what it's actually called, but a sheltered Christian girl pretending to be possessed wouldn't.

Then you find out she actually is possessed, so apparently the demon is just very new to the whole "sex" thing and doesn't know how to properly mock the person trying to exorcise it.

Organichu

aaaaaah

well

i'm seeing it anyway

Hexmage-PA

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

Organichu wrote: »

wait

in regards to one of the spoilers

does this movie involve a possessed teenager giving a blowjob? because if so i know what i'm doing this weeked

No, seriously... this spoils a major climactic event in the movie.

While "possessed" and talking as the demon, the girl offers the preacher a "blowing job" which clues him in to the fact that she's not actually possessed because a demon would know what it's actually called, but a sheltered Christian girl pretending to be possessed wouldn't.

Then you find out she actually is possessed, so apparently the demon is just very new to the whole "sex" thing and doesn't know how to properly mock the person trying to exorcise it.

What? No.

I thought it was obvious that the demon was trying to trick the preacher into thinking that she wasn't possessed.

Here's how I think the demon's plot went down:

1) Cultists cause the girl to become possessed. The father takes his kids away from the cultists before the demon can be "born".
2) The demon begins manifesting. The father searches for an exorcist, which might have been what the demon wanted to happen all along.
3) A false exorcist comes and eventually convinces the father that the girl isn't possessed. He blames her condition on an extremely sheltered upbringing. To make up for this and reintroduce her to the outside world, the father allows the undercover cultists into his home.
4) With the father's guard down and the false exorcist out of the way, the cultists can overpower the father, take the girl, and "birth" the demon.

I especially think this is how it happened because of the multiple times that demons were referred in the movie as being devious liars.

Bionic Monkey

If the demon was trying to trick the preacher, then why show up at his hotel room? It was done and over with at that point. He was on his way home, and Dad thought the girl was cured.

The movie was well made, and genuinely creepy there for a good section, but the whole thing fell apart at the end and just didn't make any fucking sense.

Hexmage-PA

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

If the demon was trying to trick the preacher, then why show up at his hotel room? It was done and over with at that point. He was on his way home, and Dad thought the girl was cured.

The movie was well made, and genuinely creepy there for a good section, but the whole thing fell apart at the end and just didn't make any fucking sense.

The point wasn't just to trick the preacher:

It was to trick the father into letting the cult members get close to his family again. The dad would probably just go after the cultists with a shotgun if they had simply tried to take her.

Bionic Monkey

That still makes little sense.

Plot 1: Hatch an elaborate plan where I double-bluff a preacher in order to trick him into allowing a cultist leader access to my host body.

Plot 2: Have the cultists show up in the middle of the night, and kidnap everybody.

Fuck, they already had a man inside with the brother. And the whole fucking plot hinged on the preacher being keen enough to pick up on three extra letters added to a word, otherwise the whole thing would fall apart, and might potentially end up with the demon actually being exorcised.

MalaysianShrew

The ending definitely felt like the writers had stayed up late reading too many Lovecraft stories and wanted to shoehorn some of his themes into their movie. And there were too many "no rational person would do/think this". Calling child services at anytime would have ended the movie.

C+. I watched it because it was in the high 90s and humid on my day off and I don't have AC. Worth it, but barely.

Apothe0sis

Given this is an Eli Roth movie, does it have any torture porn like undertones or is it straight up horror?

Robos A Go Go

Apothe0sis wrote: »

Given this is an Eli Roth movie, does it have any torture porn like undertones or is it straight up horror?

Eli Roth didn't direct it.

Xagarath

MalaysianShrew wrote: »

The ending definitely felt like the writers had stayed up late reading too many Lovecraft stories and wanted to shoehorn some of his themes into their movie. And there were too many "no rational person would do/think this".

Honestly, the ending wasn't Lovecraft at all. More like Dennis Wheatley.

Hexmage-PA

Bionic Monkey wrote: »

That still makes little sense.

Plot 1: Hatch an elaborate plan where I double-bluff a preacher in order to trick him into allowing a cultist leader access to my host body.

Plot 2: Have the cultists show up in the middle of the night, and kidnap everybody.

Fuck, they already had a man inside with the brother. And the whole fucking plot hinged on the preacher being keen enough to pick up on three extra letters added to a word, otherwise the whole thing would fall apart, and might potentially end up with the demon actually being exorcised.

While I'll admit there are holes in my theory, I still think what I described was what the movie's creators intended.

Robos A Go Go

There has to be some element of predestination based on

the fact that Nelle's drawings predicted everyone's deaths, so the demon could have hatched an elaborate plot if it had wanted to.

But a complex plan needs to be justified by a huge payoff, and this film didn't really have one.