This may contain spoilers… if you have seen the movie then read on. If you haven’t seen the movie then read on.
The Last Exorcism falls within the ‘found-footage’ genre to which we are now well
accustomed (see 
Blair Witch Project et al) and employed a similar ‘viral’ advertising campaign utilising Chat Roulette and the promise of a girl who looks to be unbuttoning her clothes before stopping and assuming an altogether more ghastly appearance. Not willing to expose myself (pardon the pun), or my webcam, to the unchartered members of lonely men trawling Chat Roulette, I have not been lucky enough to be witness to this ‘teaser‘.
Blair Witch Project et al) and employed a similar ‘viral’ advertising campaign utilising Chat Roulette and the promise of a girl who looks to be unbuttoning her clothes before stopping and assuming an altogether more ghastly appearance. Not willing to expose myself (pardon the pun), or my webcam, to the unchartered members of lonely men trawling Chat Roulette, I have not been lucky enough to be witness to this ‘teaser‘.To offer a brief synopsis, The Last Exorcism follows Reverend Cotton Marcus, played by Patrick Fabian, as he arranges for a film crew to document the farcical nature of the exorcisms he carries out. We see Marcus trivialise his congregation with tales of banana bread and expose his possession kit including a smoking cross and some 9v batteries. This brings some enjoyable, and humorous moments, which the audience clearly were not expecting. Looking around the screen I could see that Eli Roth, named on posters and trailers, had drawn a young audience looking for a gory Hostel style Exorcist update. Cotton answers the prayers of a New Orleans farmer to rid the devil from the body and soul of his daughter. Assuming that what he faces is another show as part illusionist, part psychologist Cotton sets off, sharing with us information on the different faiths followed in the region. From this point the film depicts Cotton’s meeting the family and his ‘attempt’ to redeem the child’s soul before becoming emotionally involved and uncovering an unsettling plot including a room decorated like the school bag of a young Marilyn Manson fan.
What happens in the last ten minutes of The Last Exorcism hugely altered my perspective of the rest of the film as an ending invariably has the power to do. Not a huge fan of the movies of Eli Roth the ending of The Last Exorcism feels like, with the perceived need to include a Blair Witch style ending to satisfy the ‘found-footage‘ genre traits, his talents have been called upon to provide a conclusion that stands out like a clown in church. This is merely my assumption and, although with no factual base, is the only logical conclusion I can reach.
I was content for the film to end with the resolve of the child’s situation and our protagonist heading home safe in the knowledge that he had helped a family and achieved what he set out to; exposing the shyster-esque nature of the exorcists and exorcisms carried out by the church. I am not usually one to call for a happy ending but in this instance I felt that this would have added to the expose nature of the movie. Often I leave the cinema with the thought of how much a film could have been improved with an ending in which all is not resolved but, due to the almost anti-horror majority of The Last Exorcism, this would have satisfied.
I don’t want to put anyone off going to see this movie as only the finale is perplexing with the feeling that it belongs to a different film. Made for $1.8 million The Last Exorcism has performed well at the box office in both the UK and USA. My advice is that when the crew leaves the home after the girls ‘admission’, take that as your cue to leave the screening. Trust me.
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