There are two things you should know before you see The Last Exorcism. First, it really isn’t scary. The bone-chilling second and third acts of the film manage to be consistently creepy and aggressively unnerving at times, but you won’t lose sleep over it. More importantly, you should also know that you may very well leave the theater upset. While I won’t give anything away, I will say that the ending leaves more than enough to the imagination and will certainly spark a few conversations while exiting the theater. The film doesn’t tell us the whole story, but it lays out all of the pieces so we, the audience, can put them together and form a hypothesis. Sadly, this has sparked some major criticism from mainstream audiences.

I’m perfectly alright with this. You know why? Even though I keep going to horror movies to be scared, The Last Exorcism still delivers an intriguing and twisted story that would make the writers of The X-Files proud. You can’t really say that about Paranormal Activity. Said film scared the bejesus out of  audiences, but, in actuality, could be defined as mildly creepy at best. If you don’t find that film scary, all your left with is home footage of people sleeping for the majority of the film, with a story that could have been better served with more suspense and a proper rising hierarchy of thrills. The Last Exorcism doesn’t have that either, but it is actually a better made film, in terms of story and character structure. Taking the documentary approach, the film has a captivating story that remains interesting throughout the entire film. The acting isn’t phoned in, and most of the characters, save one or two, are actually pretty interesting to watch, which is more than can be said for 99% of today’s horror genre. Ashley Bell, who plays the demon-possessed Nell, and Patrick Fabian, our lead, carry the film rather well and hopefully, we will be seeing more of them in the future.

It’s a shame that the filmmakers couldn’t have found a way to add a stronger sense of vulnerability to the already compelling story since from the start of the film, the story is already playing around with our expectations. The film starts off like a TBN documentary  with Fabian’s Cotton Marcus, who is a renowned minister that often performs exorcisms. We initially see him as he is preaching with profound energy. Then it cuts to a private conversation with his producer. “They’re not listening to a word of it,” he says with great conviction. He bets her that he can insert a recipe for banana bread into his sermon and nobody would notice. Sure of enough, he shouts the recipe and his flock responds with “Amen!” He then smiles to the camera. Why is this scene important to note in a horror review? Moments before, we were expecting Cotton to be a different character, the pulpit-pounding, Bible-thumping preacher. Now we know he is a worn-down reverend with deeper intentions. From this point on, we know that all may not be as it seems. Cotton then goes to great lengths to tell us about how he has performed various exorcism. He even shows us a book that shows all the different kinds of demons and how to get rid of them. Then, he tells us he wants to expose exorcism for the great sham that it is.  With this intent, he takes his documentary to the Sweetzer farmhouse.

Unlike past exorcism films, the film doesn’t beef up the visuals with CGI or prosthetic make up and gore. You don’t see a whole lot of Nell climbing on walls, and her face doesn’t swell to appear to demonic. The story relies mostly on in camera tricks and acting, giving it a more natural feel. Ashley Bell’s voice isn’t altered or dubbed in any way, yet it is just as creepy as, if not more than, Pazuzu’s voice from The Exorcist. In an age where style and action take precedence over staging and substance, this, my friends, is a rare find. It’s a shame that it is overshadowed by the long line of “lost footage” films, that started with 1999′s The Blair Witch Project, for it to really stand out on its own.

If you are looking for that rollercoaster-like feeling you get from scary movies, you won’t find it here, but don’t let that discourage you from seeing another well-made exorcism that may not oust The Exorcist, but delivers an ambiguous, yet thrilling story. But head this warning! If you like stories to spell out every twist and turn in suspense-free environment, you might want to consider seeing Resident Evil: Afterlife instead.

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