fiend4mojitos’s review published on Letterboxd:
As a huge fan of both The Exorcist and The Blair Witch Project, The Last Exorcism definitely looked promising to me, but my experience with most found footage films of recent years still had me a bit cautious. As it turns out, I really liked The Last Exorcism.
First of all, I felt the story was (surprisingly) quite interesting. The found footage sub-genre has always received a certain amount of affection from me, and I think the film showcases very well why. The doubtful viewpoint on the whole possession thing is in no way original; but the style of the film fits it like a glove. I felt connected to the world the film sets up almost all the way through, or at least until....Well, I´ll get to that later....
This connection would probably shatter if not for the leading performances of Patrick Fabian as Reverend Marcus and Ashley Bell as the "possessee". Fabian gives a very genuine performance, bringing a lot of energy and sincerity to what could have been a much less memorable role. Essentially, it is he who anchors the film, but in no way is Ashley Bell´s role any less significant. In the first two acts, her innocent-to-the core portrayal of Nell feels truthful and natural when it could easily ended up as obnoxious, and is perfectly serviceable to set up for when all hell breaks loose in the third act. When Bell releases the monster she absolutely chews up the scenery; and while I doubt i would put her up there with Linda Blair, I´d say she left her mark quite well.
Director shows admirable restraint when deploying his scares and relies much more on uneasiness and tension then the good ol´"quite, quite, quite: BANG!!!" when he does. which is always welcome.
Finally, there is the ending, the only thing that kept me from awarding the film four stars...... I really don´t have anything other to say than I hated it and was perfectly fine with the "false ending" the film had already given me.
Overall, I´d recommend The Last Exorcism for those in search of a good exorcism story, and don´t mind the recent wave of found-footage horror films.
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