Leroy Kincaide (director)
(studio)
18 (certificate)
107 (length)
26 November 2021 (released)
28 November 2021
Lucy (Bethan Waller) has moved in with her partner Ben (Johnny Fleming) into his very large house. At first things are going well with Lucy, a home study medical student, and Ben wheeling and dealing. Then there are small shifts in the atmosphere when Lucy hears noises and a crow’s kamikaze hit against their French windows. Add to this that Ben is having bad days and becoming more and more irritable which he takes out on Lucy.
Lucy is quickly sure that there is a haunting seeing a figure in a selfie, Ben is unbelieving, of course. They do some research about the building of the house and Lucy sees a doctor whose advice is to take it easy. She does that by taking herself off for a night out with a friend where Lucy is confronted in the ladies by another woman who warns her not to let him in.
Consulting an expert and a priest we are soon going in to exorcism territory which is confirmed when Lucy lets him into the house and then into her. Cue pale faces, Latin, cackling and getting tied to a bed and two priests (one of which - comically – says he’s off when the going gets too much).
The Last Rite starts off well with writer and director Leroy Kincaide building a good sense of dread from the large house and the washed-out colours. But it soon runs into trouble as the pace becomes very leaden and the evil so and so is a silhouette that older viewers could take for the Sandemen port logo rather than anything more suspicious.
The low budget is clear to see with the film confined to pretty much to the house which had claustrophobic potential which was squandered after the early promise. The difficulty is that this is just too close to The Exorcist in parts and it can’t compete on any level – and to be fair not many can.
It’s not helped that the characters aren’t that engaging with Ben, in particular, very soon becoming a chore and a bore. Waller as Lucy is actually quite a sympathetic character put up against Ben and the final act is quite good in a very difficult part.
The Last Rite is available now on digital platforms.
