The Last Exorcism
Owen Hughes

Review by Owen Hughes

The Last Exorcism 2010

★★★½

Watched 24 Sep 2012

So what if it conforms to the standard clichés of both possession and found-footage horror films. I quite enjoyed it. It might just be smashing two films together and hoping for the best, but there's something strangely enjoyable in it.

I thought Ashley Bell playing Nell was really good, as was Caleb Landry Jones as her brother (the bit where he starts throwing rocks at the car set the tone quite early on) despite not having a major role to play, and Patrick Fabian as the exorcist was also an interesting character. They were all like typically-old horror film characters but put into a more serious/modern setting.

It wasn't a perfect film, by any stretch of the imagination. The ending I can imagine would have irritated a lot of people - like it went on slightly too long. They could've ended it after the snapping fingers bit. Personally though, I kinda liked the ending! It made the whole thing a bit more supernatural (although felt like it ripped off Blair Witch quite a bit) and maybe, potentially, opened the story up for a sequel of sorts? I would be interested to see exactly what was going on there.

It's a film that's not going to be for everybody. If you don't like those found-footage films generally, you'll probably hate this. If you want a film that will make you think about the complexities of life and all that jazz, then you will probably hate this. If, however, you want a simply executed possession film with a few jumps and scares, like I was, then you might enjoy it.

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