Review of The Last Exorcism (2010) by John K — 06 Jul 2011

The old trustworthy Cinéma vérité style is used for this story of a preacher who has made his living off of theatrical sermons and fake exorcisms. He agrees to do one last service to expose the lies behind the practice before he leaves the church.

He takes along the handy two-man film crew and starts his act for a young daughter of a recluse farmer. This flick creates some mixed feelings for me. On one hand, it is well made and well acted by Fabian and Bell with a fabulous performance from Louis Herthum as the girl's father.

It is also very well edited - maintaining the cinéma vérité illusion while still keeping things fluid. On the other hand, there are a couple of plot holes / cheats that take some patience to overlook and the movie seems to change its mind about what it wants to be.

These shifts are jarring and probably should've been fine-tuned on paper, before they filmed it. Ultimately though, The Last Exorcism is a fresh take on some old ideas and while it exists in cliche, it has an original slant that sets it apart from most of the other films that came out in 2010.

Definitely worth your time.