The poster for The Last Exorcism had me thinking it was nothing special but as soon as I found out it was done in a “found footage” style I couldn’t resist.
A documentary crew follow a preacher (Patrick Fabian) after he has lost his faith and chooses to perform one last exorcism to uncover it as the practice of fraudsters. Naturally things don’t go as planned as lots of scary stuff happens and plots get twisted.
The mockumentary format allows for some naturalistic acting and minimal editing which helps makes the horror that much more convincing and therefore terrifying. The long takes filled with frantic scenes of a little possessed girl became quite intense and had me burrowing into my seat.
Ashley Bell makes the film as the possessed girl, at once playing a sweet innocent and a terrifying, contorting beasty. Bell is apparently double jointed and did all the bendy bits for real.
With an ending that will surprise you The Last Exorcism is a good low budget horror film that will soon be topped by Paranormal Activity 2 and likely forgotten in a months time.
Mild Concern 