Legion: The Last Exorcism and Expelling a Film Disaster After Viewing: A Movie Review ~ 28DLA

Director: David Heavener.

Writers: Eileen Gruba, and David Heavener.

*Full disclosure: a screener of this film was provided by MTI Home Video.

MTI Home Video has been around for twenty plus years as a film distributor and their track record has mostly been good. They have released cinematic adventures like Sutures (Sutures Review Here), or the funny e.g. Fireball (Fireball Preview Here) and others. But every once in awhile they will distribute an undigestable cinematic turd like Creature of Darkness (Creature of Darkness Review Here) or their latest, titled Legion: The Final Exorcism - to see if viewers are paying attention. This film was completed in 2006 as Costa Chica: Confession of an Exorcist, with a release elusive until MTI picked this one up for distro' on DVD January 11th. MTI would have better served the public by purchasing rights to the film only to destroy any copies created.

The plot breakdown is the tried and true; a Catholic priest meets a possessed girl to fight demons (done much better before). Steve Anderson sums up the film's plot best with: "it watches almost like an episode of "Cops" for a while there, but with worse dialogue" (Screenhead). The talking purple pigs and confusing flashbacks do not help to strengthen any cohesion in the writing.

Readers may have noticed that this film's title is very much like The Last Exorcism, but these films are not in the same league. One film is full of good acting, tension, and mysterious stories of Pagan sorcerers. The other is filled with a cheesy narration, cheap sets, and a meandering storyline. Kurt Dahlke of DVD Talk notices the ploy to confuse buyers into purchasing this title over the much better The Last Exorcism: "and do they [MTI] feel guilty about retitling this movie in an effort to exploit a tiny share of the 'confused grandma' dollar?" Only poor, confused grandmas would ever purchase this film.

What is even more funny than the title change is the interpretation of the original title: Costa Chica: Confession of an Exorcist. Costa Chica translates to little girl coast and this headline refers to absolutely nothing in the film. Other strange titles include the Catholic priest's name, San Chica. Saint Little Girl? Wtf? Also, the family who the priest investigates is named McMurter and sounds like McMurder, in the film. For what reason? They are not serial killers. The whole film feels like a confused mess and this review has likely muddied the waters a little more. But, there is not very much clarity on possession or anything else to be found in viewing this film.

This reviewer could easily flambe this film a little longer, but Legion: The Last Exorcism is not deserving of such attention. 2011 is kicking off strong with a future list of "Worst Films" for the year and director David Heavener is currently in the top spot. However, this reviewer knows that other films will sink lower than a talking pig oinking: "I am Legion and we are many!" You have made Edward D. Wood Jr. (Plan 9 from Outer Space) very proud Heavener, very proud indeed!

Plot/story/unity: 4 out of 10 (something about a priest losing his family to a demon and then facing him again, yadda, yadda, yadda).
Acting/believability: 4.5 out of 10 (Heavener seems like the cock of the walk in many scenes, with former pro-wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper moaning for films of yester year in: "they live, they live!")
Editing/continuity: 4 out of 10 (lots of irrelevant flashbacks and Dutch angles, but the film feels like a really foul Dutch oven).

Overall: 4.18 out of 10 (humorous for all its seriousness).

A review of Legion: The Last Exorcism at Screenhead:

Steve Anderson Reviews Legion: The Last Exorcism

Another humorous review of this title at DVD Talk:

Kurt Dahlke Reviews Legion

More technical details on the release at MTI Home Video:

Extra Features at MTI - Not Many

This title does not appear to be on Amazon, but Rowdy Roddy Piper's They Live is still going strong:

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