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Mad about movies

City Times takes to the multiplexes to find out what’s in store for movie buffs this week

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The Last Exorcism

In the successful vein of The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity comes another low-budget, horror mockumentary, one that’s managed to garner a respectable amount of critical acclaim on the film festival circuit.

Helmed by German independent filmmaker Daniel Stamm and produced by actor Eli Roth, The Last Exorcism features Patrick Fabian, Iris Bahr, Ashley Bell and Louis Herthum.

The plot follows Louisiana’s resident exorcism specialist Reverend Cotton Marcus (Fabian), who has recently turned cynical about his craft. In an attempt to expose the hoax he collaborates with a documentary crew for his last exorcism, but is surprised when the possession turns out to be quite real.

The 87-minute film has delivered a good performance at the US box office – it earned ten times its final production budget. In his review of The Last Exorcism for The Guardian, Phelim O’ Neill writes, “Rather than go for easy jump shocks, Stamm effectively crafts a dozen or so marvellously creepy moments. Audience faith in the existence of decent horror films is reaffirmed.”

Easy A

It may be a clichéd genre (seriously, what new could a high school comedy possibly have to offer?), but if audience and critic reviews are to be believed, then there’s nothing trite about this weekend’s teen romantic comedy, Easy A.

Starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Lisa Kudrow and Stanley Tucci, the flick is directed by Will Gluck.

Easy A lends a satirical twist to a relatively simple premise – an intelligent but somewhat unpopular girl (Stone) tries to climb the ranks of her school’s social hierarchy by marring her clean-cut image with a few scandalous rumours.

Kirk Honeycutt labels the 92-minute film in his review for The Hollywood Reporter as “a high school romp that turns a stale genre upside down with sly wit and sharp satire.”

Easy A has been well received at the US box office and Stone’s performance has been severely praised.

Trivia

· As a victim of demonic possession in The Last Exorcism, Ashley Bell did all the bends and contortions of her body on her own since she is hypermobile.

· A crew member’s brother was a real exorcist, and was on set advising director Daniel Stamm throughout filming.

· Stone dropped out of 300 and Watchmen-director Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch in order to work in Easy A. The lead role for the 2011 actions-fantasy went to Emily Browning instead.

· This was meant to be Amanda Bynes’ final film after she announced her retirement from acting. However, she decided to keep working in the movie business.

davina@khaleejtimes.com