"and it was all going so well……."

The Exorcist.  Simply put, one of the most iconic and well known horror films ever made.  Sure, when you look at it fresh today it looks very dated, but the story, script and acting performances are still exceptional and it is still one of the most terrifying films you can see.  The bar then has well and truly been set for any exorcism film that follows, and none have even come remotely close to replicating the success enjoyed by The Exorcist.

Stage set then for The Last Exorcism.  In an original twist on the genre, we see the entire film through the lens of documentary crew hired by disillusioned preacher Revered Cotton Marcus (a stand out performance by Patrick Fabian) to expose the corrupt and bogus practice of exorcism as performed by the modern day church.

There is a certain inevitability about this film – it doesn’t take a genius to work out that the possession suffered by Nell Sweetzer (again another convincing performance by actress Ashley Bell) will be genuine, forcing Cotton to reassess his loss of faith and ultimately turn back to God.  In itself, this doesn’t let the film down – Fabians’ performance is convincing enough to draw the viewer in and keep them there.  In fact, the build up to this film is actually very good indeed – watching it I drew parallels to Paranormal Activity in the way that the suspense grown gradually.

Unfortunately however, unlike Paranormal Activity, The Last Exorcism doesn’t fulfill its early promise.  The ending of the film, which to my eyes should pretty much have written itself (battle on a biblical scale between newly revitalized preacher and demon possessed girl) instead transcends into a farce – ‘alien baby’, poor homage to The Blair Witch project – a really really disappointing end to what had been building up to be a very promising film.