Directed By: Daniel Stamm
Starring: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, & Caleb Landry Jones
MPAA Rating: PG-13
My Rating: 5 / 10
There are moments of brilliance in The Last Exorcism, thanks in no small part to fantastic performances from stars Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell. Bell delivers one of the most unsettling performances in modern horror, while Fabian exudes all of the obnoxious charm popular with backwoods preachers; and the movie benefits immensely from having them in their respective roles. Unfortunately, the moments of brilliance do not pan out to make a truly brilliant movie. The Last Exorcism is one of those run-of-the-mill horror films where quick-cuts and loud noises are substituted for genuine scares, and where you can tell the filmmakers were banking on one particular scene in order to shock and terrify. That scene is the now-infamous back-breaking scene. However, that scene, like the rest of the movie, isn't really scary, nor is it particularly groundbreaking. If you have ever seen another demonic possession movie (And, really, who hasn't?), then you have seen just about everything that The Last Exorcism has to offer. Oh, and did I mention that the ending sucks? Because it does.
