The Last Exorcism

Over the past few years, documentary-style horror movies seem to have become a fairly frequent occurrence, often achieving varying degrees of success. On one hand we’ve seen wonderfully terrifying examples such as ‘Rec’ (2008) and ‘Paranormal Activity’ (2009), each, in my view, worthy of standing up as true classics of the genre. Equally, however, some haven’t quite delivered in the same way; 2008’s ‘Cloverfield’ and 2010’s ‘Rec 2’both highlighting, albeit in different ways, just how easy it is to get things wrong when shooting in this style. In the case of Daniel Stamm’s ‘The Last Exorcism’ we find a film that embodies many of the qualities that make this genre so effective, yet also manages to implode quite spectacularly due to a few misguided steps.

‘The Last Exorcism’ takes the form of a documentary, following preacher and ‘exorcist’ Cotton Marcus, played superbly by Patrick Fabian, as he sets out to show the world the tricks of the exorcist trade and to reveal the fraudulent and exploitative ways of the church. Somewhat predictably, this doesn’t quite go to plan.

Although the plot and exposition of the film are both highly derivative and explicit in their influences, for large sections ‘The Last Exorcism’ works beautifully, slowly building up the tension and creating an atmosphere of suspense in a way that’s comparable to that of ‘Paranormal Activity’; specifically the moments in which the camera is focussed on the bedroom whilst the couple are sleeping. With these moments, the fear manifests itself in the form of anticipation, rather than what is actually happening on-screen. Examples of this technique can be seen as Cotton and his team are following an apparently possessed Nell through the house. As she moves into different rooms and out of the camera’s sight, one can clearly draw comparisons with the style employed in ‘Paranormal Activity’. Similarly, the scene in which she is alone behind her locked bedroom door, yet the sounds of another voice and a baby crying can clearly be heard, also make for extremely unsettling viewing . In sequences such as this, Stamm exemplifies just how scary and powerful horrors of this kind can be, with literally nothing other than the audience’s imagination providing the terror.

The quality of the performances from the key cast members also adds to the scariness, with no one over-acting or trying to compensate for the film’s carefully understated tone. Ashley Bell’s performance as Nell deserves particular praise for its vulnerability and sensitivity, making the moments of her possession all the more frightening. It is this obvious technique of less-is-more, regarding the cast’s performances, that undoubtedly provides ‘The Last Exorcism’ with its creepiest and spookiest moments, allowing the tension to unnerve its audience instead of screaming at you to be scared.

How frustrating it is then, when in the film’s final act, it decides to abandon every element that had worked to this point, in favour of an ending which is so preposterously bad that it essentially destroys all of the groundwork which was laid before. The realism of the single camera style of shooting is hurriedly discarded to make way for a number of cut-away and reaction shots that simply don’t add up or make sense if the action were truly being captured by one camera. Furthermore, the ‘twist’ in the plot really is laughable. I won’t reveal the ending here, for anyone that is thinking of seeing the film should not be put off by its final 10 minutes, yet when you come away from ‘The Last Exorcism’, the prevailing feeling is one of disappointment at what could have been, rather than appreciating just how good a film it was for around eighty minutes. Such a shame, as given a little more thought, ‘The Last Exorcism’ could well have been one of the year’s best horrors.