The Last Exorcism (2010)

Directed by Daniel Stamm. Starring Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Louis Herthum, Iris Bahr, Caleb Landry Jones, Tony Bentley. [PG-13]

A reverend (Fabian) who has lost his faith performs phony exorcisms and allows a film crew to document his final “performance” as a means of debunking the practice. He chooses a disturbed teenage girl (Bell) who he claims is possessed by a powerful demon, but suspects is actually being abused by her God-fearing father (Herthum). Gimmicky horror movie employs the found-footage technique better than most of the other post-Blair Witch exploitation pics, although like all the rest, it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Compact running time combined with a steady pace, plus a few good performances, make it an okay watch, although the results are mixed, and it works far better when it’s in a serious, grounded frame rather than when it pushes the supernatural shocks and tries to scare the audience. The extravagant twist ending would have worked better if more groundwork had been laid for the reveal (e.g., one important figure was seen only one time earlier in the movie, and had been all but forgotten by the finale). Eli Roth co-produced. A “conventionally-photographed” sequel came three years later.

54/100