Review: The Last Exorcism

The triumph of The Last Exorcism is in it's slight of hand. Showing you something while doing something completely unexpected and then pulling the rug out from under you for good measure.

Don't be fooled by the seen-it-all-before trailer, The Last Exorcism is an incredibly effective horror.

Louisiana born Reverend Cotton Marcus is an evangelical minister who doesn't believe in God. He is a good minister and a good man but his faith has slipped away from him. When his young son became ill, it wasn't prayer that healed him but medicine, so he turned to science and his belief in a higher power began to wane. His faith was shaken further when he read the story of young boy who died while priests performed a staged exorcism on him, an exorcism just like the ones Marcus used to perform himself. With his faith in both God and his clergy in ruins he enlists the help of a film producer to expose the bogus exorcisms by visiting the home of Nell Sweetzer an allegedly possessed teenage girl.

These days the found footage/mockumentary genre is beginning to feel old hat. Gone are the days when a film like The Blair Witch Project could explode into the mainstream and really make it's audience question what they were seeing. Even in the best examples the same cracks in the logic pop up. In addition to the typical "Why would you keep filming that?" question director Daniel Stamm doesn't really commit to the tool he has chosen. The trio only have one camera, for example, but often a conversation has multiple perspectives shot from different angles. The film uses a score which, again undercuts the idea that this is "found" footage. It would be very interesting to see this film again without the score, there are certain moments that I honestly think would have worked even better without the shrieking violin telling you to jump. It doesn't detract from the film, but it feels like a definite decision made early in pre-prodution would have yielded a stronger result.

But what The Last Exorcism does, and does brilliantly, is keep you guessing. Like all great genre films the alleged possession and the theological questions raised in The Last Exorcism are just a backdrop for a deeply personal human story. Marcus' beliefs are established early and are the crux of the film and it's his doubts that carry the narrative. Like him, you, the viewer have to decide if you are a believer or a cynic. As the story unfolds and Marcus discovers more about Nell and her family it appears that the monster she lives with may be more earthly than they thought.

Surprisingly, the film is also quite funny. Patrick Fabian is a very charismatic actor and a perfect match for the smooth talking city Pastor. Stamm, it seems, is a fan of The Office, there are a fair few talking head interviews and a scene where Marcus frantically casts out a demon as the bed shakes is intercut with him calmly preparing the room earlier, with a big grin on his face.

Mention has to go to Ashley Bell who gives a career making performance as Nell. Just as any exorcism film has a pretty big shadow over it, so too does the actor playing the possessee. Bell's performance was never going to trump Linda Blair's iconic turn, but she brings a very real pathos to Nell and makes her story all the more tragic. She can also twist her body and face in ways that will make your skin crawl.

Maybe it was my expectations walking in. This story has been done a thousand times before, but The Last Exorcism brings enough interesting ideas and twists to make it fresh again. It's certainly not the scariest film I have ever seen but I don't think that was the intention. It stands apart as something different and is one of the most interesting horrors of the last few years.