“The Last Exorcism,” directed by Daniel Stamm, involves a preacher trying to atone for his sins – pretending to perform exorcisms for cash. It’s hard to believe there’s still plenty of life left in the “found footage” genre that sparked both “The Blair Witch Project” and “Paranormal Activity.”
The preacher’s attempt at salvation comes in the form of documentary footage “found” for our entertainment. The minds behind “Exorcism” do more than milk the single-cam genre for all its worth. They corral a terrific lead performance and a nuanced look at religion. Not shabby for a no-budget horror film with precious little blood to be spilled.
The Rev. Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) has a confession to make. He’s been performing exorcisms for years and making a pretty penny from it. But it’s all a ruse. He knows how to rattle household items on cue and say the right mumbo jumbo to make it seem as if the devil was exiting a body. So he hires a documentary crew of two to capture his last exorcism, his exit from a pretty seedy business.
The found footage is presented in a more streamlined fashion than the reels at the core of “Blair Witch” or “Paranormal.” But the movie cheats a bit. This footage comes with standard horror movie music spliced in, which makes for an awkward hybrid. Still, the effect is like we were dropped into the lives of some ordinary people facing extraordinary events. Cotton gets a shock, however, when the so-called “possessed” girl he’s called in to save (Nell Sweetzer) could be the real deal.
“The Last Exorcism” never delivers the big scare – we do get several mid-sized shocks, but the story is enthralling all the same. The movie goes light on the bloodletting and even lighter on special effects, and it doesn’t suffer for it. Our collective knowledge of exorcisms, born mostly from the 1973 film, is used as effective context without exploiting our affection for that horror classic.
Fabian is terrific as Cotton, a man uncomfortable with both his faith and past behavior. A good heart still beats beneath those contradictions. It might be the best horror movie performance in recent memory.
The film tries to fight back against the sub genre’s traps, and it partially succeeds. At one point the camera man shows real trepidation about continuing to shoot, and the documentary format allows for different camera angles, even though we only see one camera throughout.
“The Last Exorcism” is a crafty mix of “The Exorcist” and “The Blair Witch Project,” one that capitalizes on the strengths of both films. But the final reel is scary in all the wrong ways, proving even the most clever concepts have trouble sticking the landing.
DIRECTOR: Daniel Stamm SCREENWRITER: Huck Botko, Andrew Gurland PRODUCERS: Marc Abraham, Thomas A. Bliss, Eli Roth, Eric Newman CAST: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Nell Sweetzer, Tony Bentley MPAA RATING: PG-13
Christian Toto is a Denver-based arts reporter, print and radio film critic and movie blogger (www.whatwouldtotowatch.com)
