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Father Peter (Dennis LaValle) has just been murdered during an exorcism
by a suicide assassin with a bomb strapped to his body - something that
leaves Jo (Rachele Brooke Smith) shattered, because ever since the death
of her mother, the Catholic church and Father Peter in particular has
taken care of her and her sister Maddie (Terri Ivens). But while Jo has
led a life of virtue, Maddie has taken to alcohol, and has led a rather
promiscuous lifestyle - and yet the two girls love each other and are
there for each other. That is, until Maddie starts to turn evil - but not
just like that, she seems to have gathered some demonic powers that have
given her to cause a man burst into flame by mere willpower. It's when she
tries to kill another girl in plain sight in front of a large crowd at the
bar she works at though that she's arrested and put in the psych ward.
Jo's sure that Maddie's possessed, but she has a hard time to convince
anybody - so she remembers a renegade priest, Marco (Danny Trejo), who has
a background in exorcism, she visits him, and ultimately she learns she
herself has to be ordained a priest in order to exorcise the demon
possessing Maddie and save her sister - but that's much easier said than
done ... Now in all frankness, if you take The Last Exorcist
too seriously, it just doesn't work, it's just too far-fetched and full of
clichés. But if you choose to view it as a fun ride without looking for
realism or deeper meaning, then you'll probably be entertained. Fact is,
yes the film is full of genre mainstays that seem to be cobbled together
to keep things going rather than to make up an original storyline, but
keeping things going is what the film does, with many nice setpieces (from
Maddie willing a man to spontaneously combust to Jo performing some
martial arts mid-exorcism) that by themselves are a hoot to watch, and if
you manage to just disregard all the slightly heavy-handed religious
undercurrents, you'll probably find this one very entertaining.
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