I'm not sure if “The Last Exorcism” has a Christian worldview or not. And you know what? I don't really care. The bottom line is that it's not a good movie for Christians to see. Sure, it's a creepy horror flick about a teenaged girl who's possessed by a demon, but Jesus Christ is treated more like a plot device than anything else.
To start at the beginning: Cotton Marcus is a young pastor who's been brought up in the church. He's something of a superstar preacher, relishing in the performance aspect of his job more than ministering. He's performed a number of exorcisms, but, then, due to a tragedy in his family, he winds up believing that there is no supernatural element to his exorcisms. In short: he believes that the “demons” he exorcised were nothing more than psychological oddities. He played the role of placebo, not a divine priest.
So he gets the idea to invite a film crew to document one of his exorcisms. That way, he can prove to the world what a sham exorcism is.
Right away we have a classical story arc—Man has belief, man loses belief, man regains belief by immersing himself in his new worldview.
Watching this movie was a very strange experience. Its satanic aspect clearly made me uncomfortable, but I, also, found myself questioning the director and screenwriter's choices. The ending of the film is a mess. I probably shouldn't reveal any spoilers, but I will say that at the end, you have no idea who anyone was anymore. Was that pastor character a good guy or a bad guy? Was the brother in cahoots with demons, too? Yadda yadda yadda.
I took a Christian friend of mine to see this as her birthday present. Later, I hear that a lady in our church was uncomfortable to hear that we went to see it. She doesn't like horror movies, in general, but Satan movies really disturb her. Rightly so.
Look, everyone. When it comes to Satanism, all Hollywood cares about is making a movie that will make money. Jesus Christ is not glorified in this movie. In real life exorcisms, I would hazard the guess that He always is.
Don't see this movie.
Violence: Extreme / Profanity: Moderate / Sex/Nudity: Moderate
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