'Legion: The Final Exorcism' DVD Review

A cheap, derivative and poorly made direct-to-video exorcism flick.

Father Michael Sanchica is a rogue priest with a cross-shaped earring who travels around the country performing excorcisms, against the church's wishes. Oh, and he can see the future and the past and occasionally gets a stigmata or two.

His latest case is a 16-year-old girl named Tatiana, the stepdaughter of a small-town preacher. She's been seeing visions, hearing demonic voices from farm animals, experiencing contortions and levitating every now and then, much to her parent's annoyance. Can Michael figure out what's wrong (hint: she's possessed) and help the little girl before her vocal cords becomes permanently scarred by that raspy demon voice?

The title Legion: The Final Exorcism should be all the indication you need about how lazy, cheap and derivative this film is. It's more The Last Exorcism than it is Legion, but it's not nearly as good as either of those major releases (which is saying something, given Legion was pretty awful).

It recycles all the standard exorcism movie cliches -- the innocent young girl, the deep demonic voices, the body contortions, the levitation, the priest with a troubled past (his wife and daughter died during a botched exorcism or some such mumbo-jumbo) -- but with a low budget and amateurish direction, the execution is as painful as being exorcised yourself. In some instances -- demonic voices emanting from pigs and chickens -- it's downright comical (uninentionally). In others -- demonic voices with audio so warped that you can't even understand what's being said -- it's so irritating you lose interest in the film altogether.

The only recognizable face in this Z-grade production is likable pro wrestler-turned-actor "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, whose promising start in John Carpenter's They Live has sadly led to supporting roles in throwaway fare Legion: The Final Exorcism, in which he appears on screen for less than 10 minutes.

Most of the movie is a barrage of silly, sped-up "visions" experienced by both the exorcist and the exorcisee and supposedly disturbing images of the possessed girl undergoing her demonic transformation -- at times amounting to little more than curling her fingers and sticking her tongue out. The narration, courtesy of the priest, is done in a wannabe noir Dragnet style, while the opening credits feature X-Files-ish theme music and upcoming scenes from the movie, making you wonder if the filmmakers were aiming to create a TV pilot...as if anyone would want to see more.

The DVD

No special features.

Movie: D-
DVD: F

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