The Last Exorcism (15) ****

Sep 5 2010 by Roz Laws, Sunday Mercury

Cast: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Louis Herthum, Caleb Landry Jones, Irish Bahr

Plot: Filmed in a documentary style like The Blair Witch Project or Rec, we see everything through the lens of film-maker Iris’s (Bahr) camera.

Her subject is the Rev Cotton Marcus (Fabian), a charismatic preacher with the gift of the gab and a penchant for magic tricks.

He states: “Exorcism today is bigger than it’s ever been,” but goes on to admit that he doesn’t believe in demons and that his exorcisms are fake. He had a crisis of faith when his premature son lost his hearing, and now he wants to expose exorcisms as a dangerous scam.

So he allows a film crew to follow him to deepest Louisiana, where he’ll perform one last ritual on 16-year-old Nell (Bell). Her father (Herthum) says she’s possessed and is killing livestock.

Marcus performs a fake exorcism, using tricks and some of the 800 demon sounds on his iPod, but when the violence gets worse, it’s clear he’s dealing with a very troubled girl. Dark forces are at work here, but are they man-made?

Good points: It starts off brilliantly, with a clever set-up and dialogue, like Marcus complaining that “the Catholic Church get all the press [on exorcisms] because they got the movie”. It’s gripping and scary as the tension builds well.

Bad points: Sadly they can’t sustain it and the ending is disappointing.

Should I see it? Yes, if you like well-made horror films.