Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, Ltd.

I’ve never been to a movie theater and not been able to watch the movie I paid for.  I know it happens (a couple times at least to my younger brother), but I think don’t go to the movies enough for this to be a usual occurrence.  But just that happened when Jen and I went to the Palladium in San Antonio to see Toy Story 3 (in IMAX 3D nontheless); apparently the film got stuck in the projector (which was funny because all through the ads they played up the “all digital projection”), and the showing was cancelled.  The staff gave us free passes and also said we could go to any other showing of our choice.  Since we haven’t had cable TV since moving (and I don’t watch the local channels), I had no idea what else was playing.  After going through a few movies I hadn’t heard of, the staff member mentioned The Last Exorcism.  I had just heard about a viral marketing campaign for this movie on This Week in Tech, so Jen and I decided to check out this movie since it would get us out in time to eat lunch before Scott Pilgrim.

Neither of us had any idea what to expect going into this film, and I think that helped.  Normally, this is a movie that I would pass on in the theaters, since on th surface it’s a collection of cliches.  First, it’s another exorcism horror movie, which has probably not been done better than The Exorcist back in 1973.  Second, it’s another fake documentary horror movie ala The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity. And to a certain extent it doesn’t rise above these cliches.  Much of what you see are things you would expect to see, such as the possessed girl vomiting (although non-projectile) and running around in the dark with a camera.  But I think that the filmmakers took their audience’s familiarity with the tropes of these genres into account, and it is here that this film becomes interesting.

The central character of the movie is Cotton Marcus, an evangelical preacher well known for rousing (if superficial) sermons, a theatrical flair, and performing exorcisms.  He began preaching as a kid under the tutelage of his preacher father, and performed his first exorcism at ten.  He no longer believes in God, however, and has just been going through the motions for years.  Even though the exorcisms he performs are elaborate hoaxes, the news story of the death of an autistic boy during a botched exorcism has convinced him to give up exorcisms and expose them as  hoaxes with the hope of dissuading others.  To this end he hires a documentary crew to film his last exorcism.

The suspension of disbelief is a necessity for the audience in any movie, and when The Last Exorcism keeps its main theme (belief) in the foreground, it’s at its best.  Throughout most of the movie, Marcus, his film crew and the audience struggle with what they believe is happening.  Is the girl actually possessed?  Is her father somehow involved or responsible?  These questions are raised constantly during the movie, and I thought this was a good way to play with the cliches and include the audience in the movie.

Unfortunately it is just in that suspension of disbelief that the movie falls flat.  After raising so many questions about the existence of the supernatural, something that is done very slowly and deliberately, the ending felt like it came out of nowhere.  For just that reason, I just didn’t believe it at the time.  I do think that some of the plot holes can be filled in after thinking about them for a bit, and both Jen and I found it interesting enough to talk about all through lunch and later.  But I also think that the movie still didn’t do enough to convince me that the ending is what should have (or even could have) happened.