FILM REVIEW The Last Exorcism

Possession is nine tenths of the bore

15 * 87 mins * 3 September 2010
Director: Daniel Stamm
Cast: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Louis Herthum, Iris Bahr, Tony Bentley

While Paranormal Activity may not have inspired a gold rush of copycat faux-shock-docs, it’s certainly an appealing formula for a first-time director. Cheap locations, unknown actors and plenty of tape are all you need to make your $100 million hit. The Last Exorcism does it better than most.

Somewhere in the deep south, Reverend Cotton Marcus, a theatrical preacher with a pricked conscience, is about to undergo his final exorcism – and, with the help of a documentary crew, expose the practice for the money-making sham it is. For his final case, he’s picked a young girl called Nell, whose alcoholic father Louis thinks she has the devil inside her. Over the next three days, dad puts the mental into fundamental, as it slowly dawns on the Rev that there’s more going on here than a simple possession…

The film builds up a real head of tension in the first two acts, contrasting Patrick Fabian’s hilarious and openly crooked preacher with Ashley Bell’s wide-eyed innocent, Nell. But all this good work is let down by a third act that’s just a thimble too silly, causing the whole show to tumble down like a pack of cards. Paranormal Activity brought the chills back to the multiplex, but while The Last Exorcism feels more naturalistic, all it can manage on the horror front is a few jumps. Director Daniel Stamm has also chosen to score and cut the film like a finished documentary, which constantly pulls you out of the “found footage” reality.

Exorcism films really hinge on questions of faith, and for heathen non-believers the gnashing of teeth and an upset tummy just isn’t frightening. There’s also the demon in the room that’s William Friedkin’s 1973 classic, which nearly 40 years later remains the last word on the subject – you’re going to need more than a creaky four-poster and a trickle of vom to topple that now-ancient relic. If you’re the kind of person that finds the power of Christ compelling, this may hold a few scares in this, but in all honesty, you’d probably find a Richard Dawkins book just as terrifying.

Jon Hamblin