The Last Exorcism

I understand that this movie came out weeks ago and so it looks like I’m late in posting my review. Well, I am. Life has been crazy and chaotic; so I am now sitting down to write the review of Eli Roth’s latest movie. My husband and I hit the local movie theater just a few days after The Last Exorcism or TLE came out.

I won’t be saying much about spoilers in this review. I want to talk about the young woman who plays the possessed girl in TLE. Her name is Ashley Bell and she portrays the role of Nell Sweetzer. Nell is a confused young woman who has lived a very sheltered life since the death of her mother. Her father Louis thinks that she may be possessed because she has started to act funny, and some of his livestock have been killed over the past few weeks.

The first thing that struck me about Nell is that she is very innocent. She loves to play the flute/clarinet. She is naïve of the ways of the world and loves her daddy. She tolerates her brother, but we don’t need to talk about him too much. The first night that she is visited by Rev. Cotton Marcus, the unbelieving but still healing minister, nothing much happens. She seems like a normal young woman who is dealing with the fact that her mom is still dead and her father is strict with her.

Her father Louis fell apart after his wife passed away, and at first, he sought out the companionship of the nearest bottle of alcohol. He and his family used to attend church but that all kind of went away after the death of his wife. He doesn’t know what to do about his daughter. She has woken up several mornings, covered in blood. Of course she has no memory of what happened the night before. Luckily, for us and the good ole Rev. Marcus, something happens the second night.

They find Nell in the barn after hearing screams and an almost failed attempt to follow her out of the house. They find Nell covered in blood, over a dead barn cat. (Poor Fluffy!) She has no memory of how she left the house and is crying and scared. It’s at this point that I have to commend Ashley’s acting. She went from naïve and normal to crazy and homicidal, to terrified and confused. Her clothes are of course drenched in blood and the crazed look in her eyes adds to the effect of the scene.

The story goes on with more instances. That’s what we’ll call them…instances. She locks herself in her room. She somehow jumps up onto the wall, above a tall piece of furniture/dresser and she looks absolutely feral. She manages to run out of the room and they chase her all over the house. There is a scene where they chain poor Nell to her bed. She writhes and jerks around. She spouts curses and obscenities. By now, the preacher/fake healer is convinced. This girl is really possessed! And now he and his camera crew are in real danger!

Once again I have to commend Ashley on her acting. She is completely believable in this role as poor, possessed Nell Sweetzer. I have seen other movies with possessed people. Exorcist was good in its heyday, with Linda Blair. I even enjoyed The Last Exorcism of Emily Rose with Jennifer Carpenter. But they paled (in my eyes at least) in comparison to Ashley’s performance. There was bed shaking, sure. There were shouted dirty words and phrases. There was no head rotating 180 degrees however. No split pea soup was used either. Eli kept the obscenities and dirty talk to a minimum, thank goodness. This performance was more about the transformation. Nell is calm and innocent and she has a good heart. Possessed Nell is dangerous and wild-eyed and always drenched in blood. She can climb the walls and jump far.

Without giving too much away, I will say that the ending left something to be desired. There was an ending, but it seems like it’s missing. You are left completely hanging. An epic scene is about to happen and it’s like somebody unplugged the movie projector. Then the credits roll. If one thing could have been done to fix this, I would have given this movie 4 stars, 5 for Ashley Bell’s portrayal of Nell Sweetzer. I will be paying avid attention to anything else Ashley does in and for her movies. I think she would make an excellent scream queen!