Exorcism movies scare me. I have a real problem with them for some reason. While I believe that possession is most often if not always just the effects of a psychological disorder like paranoid schizophrenia or a combination of several psychoses working together, the concept of it scares the crap out of me. So I usually avoid movies about Exorcism. I’ve never seen the Exorcist or any of the litany of other movies on the subject. I got freaked out by Repossessed with Leslie Nealson for godsakes. So in order for me to go see a movie like this it would have to have an intriguing premise such that I couldn’t pass it up. The Last Exorcism has such a premise and it did not disappoint.

Directed by relative new comer Daniel Stamm and produced by Eli Roth, the Last Exorcism tells the story of Reverend Cotton Marcus, a preacher ushered into the family business as a child with a father who was always looking for a hook. He is a showman and really delivers for the crowd to work them up into an ecumenical fury. Part of the family business is exorcisms. His father claims to have done 150 using a rare book of demons written in Latin and Cotton himself has used it to perform many more. Here is the catch though: They are all an act. Cotton is a stage magician and uses these tricks to great effect when faking the exorcism. He didn’t think much of it as he felt he was providing a service by resetting people’s disbelief, much in the same way a paranormal investigator might ‘clear’ a haunted location. When people started dying in botched exorcisms it makes him realize the danger inherent in it. The conceit of the film, which is shot verite style, is that he wants to make a documentary of him performing all the tricks on his last exorcism to expose exorcism for what it is. As you would imagine, when he chooses his exorcism at random and shows up at the location he gets more than he bargained for.

There are people who are getting tired of the mockumentary style film but I think if it is done well it can be very effective. It takes just the right touch to film the things that need to be shown without everything feeling ridiculous. I loved Cloverfield for instance but there were a few times I didn’t understand why the dude kept filming. A lot of times you have to accept it with the basic conceit and get over it. Here, in a general sense, that isn’t so much of a problem as all the action takes place within the guidelines of what is meant to be filmed in the first place so it isn’t much of a stretch that it would continue to be filmed after serious shit starts going down.

This isn’t a movie of big scares and abject terror but one of a slow burn that takes its time building up to something and even when things start to happen you aren’t anymore sure of what is really going on than Cotton or the fimmakers themselves. Cotton has come to put one over on this family who believe that her daughter is possessed and killing farm animals in the middle of the night but is the family being truthful themselves? Are the animal killings done by the father or son? Is the possession story a cover for something else the family wants to keep hidden? Has the girl had a mental break after her mother’s death? None of these things are clear and walking out of the theater the viewer still isn’t quite sure what was going on at the end. Some people might think this is a weakness but I think it is a strength as it becomes less a cheap thriller and more a mystery that invites discussion and analysis.

I don’t want to sell the tension of the film short. As a thriller it is very effective. Again, it isn’t a lot of jump out of your seat scares but more a creeping sense of dread that leaves you as unbalanced as the characters in the story. Stamm knows a lot a bout pacing and is sure enough of himself to let a scene play out and find the scare instead of rushing into it and making everything feel cheap. This is a film that really earns all of its scary moments and I found it to be very satisfying as a thriller.

What makes it most effective, however, is the performances. If these weren’t up to snuff and weren’t believable there would be no tension at all. Luckily we are safe on all counts here. Hands down the stand out performance is Patrick Fabian as Cotton. He is VERY likable and even when he is telling you about how he bilks people for money doing fake exorcisms you can’t help but root for the guy. He has a dynamite smile and a slick manner that manages to feel genuine. He is the sort of character you would want to watch do just about anything, which is good because the bulk of the movie is devoted to establishing him. Ashley  Bell is also great as Nell the allegedly possessed girl. In her quiet moments she is very convincing as a troubled girl who’s strict father is home schooling her and keeping her on the Christian straight and narrow and in her moments of ‘possession’ she transforms completely into a wild thing complete with bizarre physical contortions that look like they have to be CGI but aren’t. Bell is double jointed in several places and all of her movements are authentically her. The other performances are very good as well but Fabian and Bell are the real knockouts here.

The ending is abrupt and ambiguous and has frustrated some movie goers. If I knew exactly what to make of how it ends I would be better able to comment on it but I am not really sure what it is that they are showing us. This could be frustrating if you are the sort of viewer who needs to be told what is what but I ultimately like the fact that it is open to interpretation. I like that things end abruptly. I have questions about what the ending means for the ‘documentary’ and maybe the answers to that question will clear up why a documentary has a score but rather than thinking too hard about the technical limitations of the style of film I would rather just appreciate an effective overall experience. Sometimes it is nice to have all the answers but in a case like this I think that not knowing works better.

Conclusion: 9.5 out of 10

Clearly I liked the Last Exorcism quite a bit. The performances were great and the premise intriguing. Even when not much is really happening it is still interesting and engaging and I found the moments before the ‘horror movie’ portion to be very well done and enjoyable. The writing is sharp and the direction is right on. It was a satisfying thriller for beginning to end for me and while the ending was ambiguous, I liked it that way. The caveat here is that if you are looking for something to jump out and scare you, this probably isn’t the right film for you. Further if you find yourself frustrated by endings that leave things up in the air, you are probably not going to be satisfied here. If, on the other hand you are in the mood for a thriller with mystery and an open-ended conclusion then you will be in for a treat.