We should all be tired of the faux-documentary style by now, the handheld approach popularized in “The Blair Witch Project” and revived in “Paranormal Activity.” And yet “The Last Exorcism” proves there’s some life left in this lo-fi game of pretend.
The movie purports (though not very hard) to be “found” documentary footage about a preacher named Cotton Marcus (played by Patrick Fabian). Marcus has performed many exorcisms according to a scary-looking book handed down through the generations.
He knows it’s all hogwash, but his shtick plays well — everybody’s seen “The Exorcist,” after all. Now a two-person documentary crew is journeying along with him to a backwater in Louisiana, where he will show his tricks for the camera and prove the bogus nature of exorcism.
Hmm, I wonder how all this will turn out? Methinks not so smoothly.
“The Last Exorcism” director Daniel Stamm wisely does an extremely slow build-up: Marcus meets the weird family suffering the supposed possession, demonstrates his exorcist tricks (recorded demon sounds, poltergeist movements run by hidden wires) and we get accustomed to the reality of the world we’re entering.
Then … no, let’s not give anything away for horror fans. You already know something evil is going to assert itself, anyway.
As a veteran of horror-movie watching myself, I will confess that there’s something about the demon-possession genre that gets to me more than, say, a vampire movie.
These movies creep me out, and “The Last Exorcism” definitely raised some hairs on the back of my neck.
It’s a shrewd film, setting itself up as a snarky debunking of deviltry, then letting all hell break loose. Plus, it has the distinction of being one of the better-acted horror movies of recent vintage.
Patrick Fabian, who has a zillion TV credits without quite being the kind of actor who makes a strong impression, is excellent as the skeptical holy man — he gives off the energy of a seasoned supporting actor given a chance to play a leading part for a change.
And as the possessed girl, Ashley Bell comes across like a teenage version of Mary-Louise Parker, out of it and distracted and all dead around the eyes. Louis Herthem is strong as the father of the clan and Caleb Jones makes a “Deliverance“-quality entrance as the afflicted girl’s brother.
At times the shaky-cam approach feels tiresome because we’ve seen it so much, yet it kind of works here.
You could say “The Last Exorcist” goes over the top in its final 20 minutes.
Fair enough — things get absurd. But as long as you’re going down this road, why not go all the way?
Oh yeah: the PG-13 rating, yet another moronic decision by the ratings board.
To paraphrase critic Pauline Kael on the subject of “The Exorcist”: Anybody who brings a child to this movie is insane.
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