The Last Exorcism (2010)

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1. 

   dombrewer

   Essentially a rip off of "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" told through the prism of the extremely tired "found footage" genre. The gimmick in this instance is that the overtly theatrical and self-important preacher conducting the exorcisms openly admits to fraudery on his part, even a complete loss of faith, and is seeking to demonstrate (care of the film crew that follow him on this, his supposed last exorcism of the title) how all the possessions he encounters are products of obsessive religion, skewed psychology and mental disorders. By using bed shaking, demon howling, crucifix smoking trickery he gives the families of the "victim" exactly what they want to see and hear to clear the way to uncover the real root of the problem. The actual morality of that process is quite messed up in itself - in reality it would be feeding a potentially dangerous mindset with more dangerous material, but reality takes a significant backseat as the film progresses. Although the majority of the film is interesting in its attempts to debunk the notion of possession and exorcism the performances never feel true enough, or the script real enough, to effectively sell the notion of the documentary style - as much as the film tries to seem real it always ends up feeling scripted, and is frequently more silly than scary.
   
   Logic flies out of the window in the final part of the film -

   the girl has quite convincingly been revealed to be mentally unstable rather than possessed and the three protagonists have been threatened not only openly by a shotgun wielding father, crazy with religious fervour, but suggestively in drawings by the girl - variously chopped to bits and burned to death. At which point you'd probably think it was time to leave or call in the police. Instead the trio march promptly to their predicted deaths but only because of the stupidity and selfishness of the preacher; all the interesting ambiguity of the possession is dispensed with as he confronts a lamentably inconsistent (not to mention poorly executed) special effect - a demonic and sentient fire, recorded on camera for all to see - which he attempts to confront, along with a baying mass of crazed Satanists, having belatedly rediscovered his faith. I guess seeing a fire demon might do that.
   We are left with same image of a camera crashing to the ground which ended "The Blair Witch Project" so effectively a decade ago but without any of that original surprise - which sort of sums up the sub-genre it has unfortunately engendered.

   
   
   One final thought - if this film really was meant to be "found footage" who edited the material into the final film? And why on earth would they add "creepy" horror music to the soundtrack? This is basically horror film-making by committee without an original premise or the sense to follow an idea through, and because it was cheap to make and went down well with the late night popcorn crowd it even spawned a sequel. I won't bother with that, and I wouldn't recommend you bother with this. 11 years ago
2. 

   Tidorith

   Quite liked this. The background of an exorcist who is not only atheistic but in the process of openly confessing to this is a nice little twist on the exorcist genre, and it's portrayed well.
   
   Keeps you guessing (or at least kept me guessing) as to not only whether you're watching a natural or supernatural film, but if it's a natural film, what exactly is going on and who's doing what - a lot of motivated actors who could have different ulterior motives. 3 years 2 months ago
3. 

   Mrtrick

   Finding something new to offer in the exorcism game is no easy task. Any self respecting Horror Fan is as deeply familiar with the tropes on tap here as they would be for the next installment of any slasher franchise. So it's refreshing that the "Last Exorcism" takes a few "newish" stabs at originality.
   
   I'll readily admit that, as a rule, the found footage genre leaves me cold. (It's own tropes have become equally ingrained, despite the more recent vintage.) But here we get one of the more successful entries. It's still infused with that sense of inescapable artificiality inherent when the camera becomes a character, but the story is a compelling and well written one.
   
   The tale of a Southern Preacher (engrossingly realized by Patrick Fabian) who performs phony exorcisms, only to find himself confronted with the real deal, is a strong concept. One that allows for a welcome dose of humor with the horror. Director Daniel Stamm supplies a copious amount of enriching detail and an evocative sense of place. Save for a few moments toward the end, the characters don't make any egregiously dumb choices. And when the movie finally gets around to the scares, they manage to muster up some effective dread. Ashley Bell does unsettling work as the Possessed Girl. (Made more impressive by the lack of required special effects during her moments of body contortion.)
   
   A few quibbles. It takes the movie a considerable amount of time before we get to any real tension building. And the ending is disappointingly by the numbers. There's also the nonsense in the film's very construction. Spoiler Alert--As all that we see is framed in documentary fashion (Replete with editing. Score. And even external material like photos, interpolated.) how then can we be watching what we're watching? The film's ending would seem to make this highly improbable.--End Spoilers. One other thing. Despite it's setting in the Deep South, why does no one in this movie speak with an accent or even seem of the region?
   
   All of those issues aren't dismissible. But they won't stop me from recommending this one. "The Last Exorcism" is a well crafted movie, regardless of familiarity. And a worthy edition addition to the genre. 4 years 5 months ago

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