Legion: The Final Exorcism has just been released on DVD by MTI and is, as the title suggests a film about exorcism. Shot in documentary format, with voiceovers interspersed with dialogue and organized case-solving, this film takes a long, hard look at a case study of demonic possession.
The name
 It sounds like you have heard it before. It sounds like it has been a talked about film. Of course it does! Only the films that were talked about were Legion and The Last Exorcism, but this sounds enough like both of them for anyone (and by you I mean me) to be fooled into picking it up. David Heavener uses the ‘sounds like’ strategy to his advantage often, with film titles like Dawn Of The Living Dead.
However, it has to be said that the original title for the film’s short lived 2006 release Costa Chica: Confessions Of An Exorcist has a better ring to it.
It’s a one man show
If you (and by you, I always mean me) have never heard of David Heavener, you have lived a deprived life. This is a man who can sing, write, direct, produce, release, act. Heavener plays an Episcopal priest who is heavy-handed with the exorcisms and needless to say, has accumulated his own demons to wrestle along the course of his career.
Heavener’s character is called Michael San Chica, and it is a treat and half to watch him answer his phone with a deeply macho “Chica”.
The film claims to be based on true events with names changed to protect the privacy of the actual people involved. Also, it is dedicated to Heavener’s deceased 10-year-old cousin who was beaten to death in 1992. As a sweet nod to his cousin who now lives in the great big C horror flick in the sky, Heavener names Chica’s missing daughter after her. With this film, you don’t just get a horror film that will horrify you with how scared you are not, you get a little piece of David Heavener. Oh and as the end credits roll, you hear a song ‘Over My Dead Body’, written and performed by David Heavener.
The Pig
A talking pig! Who doesn’t want to watch a film with talking animals?! Dr Doolittle anyone? Charlotte’s Web anyone? Um, Garfield? That film with Tim Allen in which he becomes a dog and has to communicate by Scrabble tile (ok, so I’ve only seen promos for that). But yeah! Talking animals are always awesome, and sinister talking animals even more so. Only thing is, because of the devil voice this pig talks in, I don’t really get what he is saying. Also I think he’s speaking another language, so double points for being bi-lingual. But rest assured, the devil-pig plays a pivotal role in the film and you will probably want autographed photos with him for years to come.
The dream sequences
There are loads! And they are all based in reality, as in they really do happen, but have happened in the past or will happen in the future so you know Chica is not just jerking you around with his neuroses. Chica can totally see into the future and is also open to communication by spirits, ghosts and fugitives and all of that makes his job that much easier.
 Chica is handed over his new case, that of Tatiana McMurter vs Several Evil Spirits, by an apparition in his church. The apparition, which is that of a girl in a white dress, backlit so you can’t see her face tells him he has been given the gift that will solve Tatiana’s problems. Chica starts telling himself he is connected to Tatiana in ways he cannot understand so he takes up on her mother’s request to come see if her child is being possessed by demons or is just epileptic.
The dream sequences are all edited super choppily and sort of happen in a rush so all you get is a vague impression of things with a red glow, spinning out of control. Never fear though, as the same sequence is repeated at least three times during the course of the film.
Also, at one point while Chica is dreaming about his childhood which was scarred by his dreams of demons, we get a nice eyeful of his chest, which just for aesthetic purposes we wish he had waxed. Or you know, covered up.
The character development
Legion: The Final Exorcism makes sure you know the more messed up your home life is, the better target you make for the demons that stalk us like lions that stalk their prey, roaring. Chica says something like that, but it sounds better coming from him.
Tatiana lives with her mom, stepfather, and step-uncle on a farm. Step dad is a priest and uncle Lucas is an alcoholic who likes quoting the bible. Mom is quiet and I could swear she actually does age over the course of the film, and is nice enough or battered enough to be okay with her husband telling her daughter she looks like a tramp. Tatiana is bipolar, so you know dad thinks her fits are less of a demonic and more of a bratty nature. The family provides a backdrop for the film so grey and depressing, that it compounds the effect Tatiana’s further miseries have on you as the viewer.
The effects
They are gruesome. The makeup is disgusting. There is bile and blood. Self mutilation on another level and evil farm animals. This is not Sam Raimi being tongue in cheek, but David Heavener being super serious.
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