I had the chance yesterday to catch an advance screening of Daniel Stamm's The Last Exorcism - the new moc-doc style horror film produced by Eli Roth. If I'm being honest, it's not a film that I have been tracking particularly closely and while that lack of expectation may have factored into my response, I liked this film a lot. Really liked it. A lot. My full review will run when it appears as part of the Toronto After Dark festival next week but I'll give a few thoughts here.
First, the advertising campaign is somewhat misleading in the way it tries to pitch this as a shock-a-minute film. Because it's not. What shocks come are certainly solid and there's no particular shortage of them but Stamm is aiming higher. Beyond the shocks this is essentially a character study of its lead character, Reverend Cotton Marcus - the film was originally titled Cotton after him - and his tenuous relationship with faith as its put through the wringer.
There's a bit of a double ending to the film, which may put some out, but on the plus side this is one of the best written and best acted films of the type I have ever seen - if it's not a break-out role for Patrick Fabian then something is very wrong - with the added bonus of maintaining the immediacy of the moc-doc form while also being very well shot and edited. And Stamm, I think, is a pretty great director.
Anyway ... all of this to say that Empire have just released a new clip from the film, one that captures one of the quieter moments. Check it below.
First, the advertising campaign is somewhat misleading in the way it tries to pitch this as a shock-a-minute film. Because it's not. What shocks come are certainly solid and there's no particular shortage of them but Stamm is aiming higher. Beyond the shocks this is essentially a character study of its lead character, Reverend Cotton Marcus - the film was originally titled Cotton after him - and his tenuous relationship with faith as its put through the wringer.
There's a bit of a double ending to the film, which may put some out, but on the plus side this is one of the best written and best acted films of the type I have ever seen - if it's not a break-out role for Patrick Fabian then something is very wrong - with the added bonus of maintaining the immediacy of the moc-doc form while also being very well shot and edited. And Stamm, I think, is a pretty great director.
Anyway ... all of this to say that Empire have just released a new clip from the film, one that captures one of the quieter moments. Check it below.