Don't believe the hype! Please stay with me for a minute... watch the trailer below and then rejoin me on the next passage.

The trailer for THE LAST EXORCISM.

Originally titled 'Cotton,' THE LAST EXORCISM starts off as a slow-boil. But that's not a bad thing. Given the filmmaker's choice of a subjective, cinéma-verité documentary style, coupled with a straight-forward narrative approach, the first 20 minutes are a fitting convention, and part of what makes this film unique in a long line of previously ineffective possession-driven horror flicks. It is also innate to the film's setting: the Bayou backwoods of Louisiana -- and we don't mean the touristy French Quarter -- we're talking 'sticks.'

Reverend Cotton Marcus is a religious-zealot-turned-hack who's had his faith stripped away by the realities of everyday life and the realization that many of the doctrines that ruled his early life are bunk. It didn't help much that his father, a fervent old-school evangelical minister, would use the child preacher 'phenom' as a kind of side show accordion monkey to fill his congregation's pews (and coffers). Or that his own son was born with several birth defects. Now the distant prodigal son, he earns his keep by continuing to perform bogus exorcisms to feed his family and pay the ever-mounting bills, using his slick preacher's tongue and a host of cheap parlor tricks to hoodwink his clients during their moment of spiritual crisis. As Cotton sees it, he's providing a valuable and much-needed community service -- at least that's how he's reframed it in order to stomach it.

The Last One-sheet (click to enlarge)

Our story begins with Reverend Cotton providing behind-the-scenes access to an independent documentary crew for whom he will perform one final exorcism before leaving the game, while at the same time exposing the ritual -- and himself -- for the shams they actually are. Or so he intends until he gets a call from Louis Sweetzer, the patriarch of the Sweetzer clan, whose daughter Nell is shown in due time to be the real deal. Or is she simply undergoing post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of some unspeakable family secret? And so it goes as we're keenly kept off kilt time and again. The filmmakers have obviously doffed their caps to the 1972 Sarah Kernochan / Howard Smith Oscar-winning documentary, MARJOE.

In essence, The Last Exorcism is a first-person (and first-rate) horror film very much in the vein of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and CLOVERFIELD in their use of a nomadic camera. But aside from the common use of a 'roving eye' that reveals the sequence of events, that's really where the similarities end. A flat video camera-like depth-of-field is used masterfully to convey a myopically subjective point-of-view aesthetic, where anything can be hiding just out of sight, but within instant striking distance. In that regard, it is a much closer sibling to the Spanish production REC. And that is part of the fun of this film: the filmmakers show us just enough to keep us engaged without playing games by hiding what is relevant merely to build a forced suspense, and that, in turn, makes it even more suspenseful. Filmgoers will be happy to learn that this film is sans all the disorienting camera shake-and-bake of its predecessors, so you can safely leave the Dramamine at home.

Production still. Click to enlarge

Perhaps it's the European sensibility of German-born Daniel Stamm, or the fact that he is new to the genre altogether (this only marks his second feature as director), but one thing is certain: story triumphs over heavy-handed 'gags' here. In addition, all the performances are spot on. Patrick Fabian is captivating as the fast-talking Cotton Marcus and far and away the soul of the film. Emerging talent Ashley Bell literally BECOMES the fractured, innocently hopeful teenager in the midst of these repetitive, evil possessions. Caleb Landry Jones shines as the creepy and enigmatic Caleb Sweetzer (soon to explode in X-Men: First Class). Honorable mentions also go out to the faux documentary crew: Iris Bahr as the producer is understated and compassionate, and Adam Grimes who is neither ever broken as our fourth wall or actually ever seen as cameraman Daniel Moskowitz, manages to convey a solid off-screen performance as the team realist who repeatedly offers the grounded advice of leaving while the getting is good. Of course to no avail.

To its credit, The Last Exorcism is virtually a CGI-free zone movie. All of the possession effects are done in-camera on set, including the film's iconic back-breaking bend, which was physically done, we are told, by Ashley Bell herself. Even the Sweetzer farmhouse is an actual practical location in rural Louisiana. All of which together lends an added air of reality to the production and some truly chilling moments. BEWARE Nell's child-like yet prophetic drawings!

Did we mention that the filmmakers managed to pack all this in into a PG-13 rated movie? Smart.

The film is being distributed via LIONSGATE and produced by Eric Newman, Marc Abraham, Thomas A. Bliss, and a much more 'kindler-gentler' Eli (Bear Jew) Roth, whose obvious horror credentials give him top billing. The script comes by way of the writing team of Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland, who also co-wrote the dark mocumentary Mail Order Wife, and further explains why the documentarian aspect is so convincingly woven into the movie. And what an effective switch of genres!

BONUS clip from THE LAST EXORCISM.

MARKETING HYPERBOLE AND OTHER MISGIVINGS
Now back to my original statement. Now that you know what the film is, let me tell you what it is not:

Its is not, as the trailer would lead you to believe (much as I did before screening the film), that it's a fright-a-minute chop-shop creep fest. While it certainly does deliver the willies BIG-TIME, The Last Exorcism isn't your average run-of-the-mill horror film, and it cuts some new ground. For one thing, it treats its audience as intelligent viewers rather than stereotypical brainless, gore-seeking larvae. It's a horror film with an adult's sensibility and maturity. While it's hard to please everyone, it is wiser to play to your strengths than alienate by fudging the message too much, as is the case with this film's trailer, where the dart was simply thrown at the lowest common denominator in an attempt of expanding it's box-office draw.

For the most part, horror fans hunger for variety the same as everyone else. And just as in politics, a periodic flip-of-the-script is in good order and ripe for the diet. So a little honesty when change is served up is welcome and should not be hidden under a heap of 'trailer trash sauerkraut.' We're smart; we can take it, not like people say. It's hard to imagine that the same folk who brilliantly took advantage of a major shortcoming of chatroulette.com to deliver a viral publicity clip that is nothing short of sheer marketing genius, created the film's trailer.

The only visible weak point I encountered in the movie proper -- no we won't give it away here -- is the film's finale itself. Suffice it to say that it feels as if the filmmakers spent a great deal of effort to fine-tune and finesse the first two acts and then were lost for time and rushed to tack on the ending (hopefully it didn't come down to an arm wrestling match between the filmmakers and marketing department with the suits winning the bout). BUT, even in this final sequence, there are some visually arresting and horrific images, however, so keep an eye peeled. If you dare.

Having said that:

LAST RIGHTS
After a long summer void of genuine fright fodder, things are about to pick up as the paranormal/horror/thriller The Last Exorcism is set to jumpstart the hearts of avid horror fans with a shot of "miedo" adrenaline.

And not a minute too soon as I REALLY needed my fix. Amen.