This review first appeared in The Colorado Springs Gazette. To read this review at its original source, click here.

I cannot remember the last time I left a movie as angry as I left The Last Exorcism, a film that, for the first three quarters of its running time positively purred and then, as it rounded the final lap, completely, utterly, absolutely, unquestionably, indubitably ruined any good feelings I had for it with a diabolically stupid ending. As I’ve said before, the worst offense is not the film that reeks from beginning to end, it is the film with blatant potential that is squandered by ineptitude or indifference. In the case of The Last Exorcism, it is both.

The Last Exorcism, like The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity before it, is presented as “found footage.” Its subject is pastor Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), a disillusioned evangelical minister, who, after years of bilking the faithful and performing hundreds of sham exorcisms, has decided to come clean in a documentary exposing his charlatanism. Cotton receives a letter from a desperate farmer (Louis Herthum) pleading for his help—daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) has been possessed by Satan himself. Intent on showing the world that both demons and the powers that purport to banish them are nothing more than illusions, Cotton accepts the summons. But what he finds at the isolated Louisiana farmhouse challenges his backslidden state and forces him to confront the possibility that the Devil may indeed be very real and very powerful.

Cotton is a genuinely fascinating character, not the least because he is nearly impossible to dislike. It’s not that he is merely charming and likeable (though Fabian certainly plays him with naturalistic, charismatic relish)—a trait indicative of most spiritual con men who blur the line between the gospel and entertainment—but he’s a mostly decent man, a false prophet who lost his faith but has a child at home with an exorbitantly expensive medical condition that isn’t paying for itself. The thing is, Cotton genuinely thinks he’s helping people. Their faith and their God, neither of which Cotton believes in, enable them to face the world stronger and Cotton sees his place as enabling them to do just that. He does not believe demons actually possess people, but if they shed their psychological maladies thanks to his imaginary powers, he is doing good, no? This is how Cotton Marcus sleeps at night. But, for The Last Exorcism, there not only is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole, there is also no such thing as an atheist at an exorcism. “If you believe in God,” the film tells us, “then you must believe in the Devil.” Fair enough.

The Last Exorcism is genuinely creepy. It is nice to see a film that doesn’t rely on blood and guts for scares. In fact, there are no monsters present other than those that a great many viewers believe truly exist. This factor, as in other possession films such as 1973’s incomparable The Exorcist, makes the film imminently more terrifying. The horror here is in your own head far more than it is on the screen. In fact, the film is somewhat ambiguous about Nell’s condition—if you choose to see her as demonically possessed, there is evidence to support that claim, just as there is every bit as much scientific and medical evidence to support the contention that she is merely mentally deranged.

How then does a film built this sturdily supernova so spectacularly in its last minutes? I have, on occasion, dear reader, been known to employ hyperbole in an effort to drive home some point or another. Trust me when I say that I veer nowhere near hyperbole when I tell you that the final moments of The Last Exorcism are among the worst I have ever seen—dazzlingly rushed, utterly devoid of dread and flamboyantly stupid. It is as if the filmmakers made up the ending on the spot and shot it in real time. It is as if the last reel was lost and an ending from an entirely different movie was sutured on to what remained without anesthesia, deliberation or any care for the appearance of the patient. Worse yet, The Last Exorcism loses its way aesthetically, completely dropping its pretense of found video footage to take on the properties of a traditional, linear story. When the screen cuts to black and the credits begin to roll, you too may find yourself possessed—with an intense desire to get your money back.

© Copyright 2010 Brandon Fibbs. All rights reserved.

Directed by Daniel Stamm
Starring: Patrick Fabian, Louis Herthum, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr
Rated PG-13 for disturbing violent content and terror, some sexual references and thematic material.
Running Time: 87 minutes