Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
After years of performing “exorcisms” and taking believers’ money, Reverend Marcus travels to rural Louisiana with a film crew so he can dispel what he believes is the myth of demonic possession. The dynamic reverend is certain that this will be another routine “exorcism” on a disturbed religious fanatic but instead comes upon the blood-soaked farm of the Sweetzer family and a true evil he would have never thought imaginable.
The Last Exorcism starts with a genuinely clever premise — a fraudulent reverend exposing his own con game while documenting what he thinks is a mundane case — giving the first two acts real character depth and slow-burn tension. However, the found-footage format adds little visually distinctive beyond shakycam conventions, keeping cinematography squarely below average. The acting from Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell is a genuine strength, elevating the material. The ending, however, is widely regarded as a jarring tonal shift that abandons the film's thoughtful psychological ambiguity in favor of a rushed, conventional satanic cult revelation that undercuts everything built before it. Novelty gets a slight edge for the meta-commentary on evangelical fraud layered into the possession genre, but the found-footage shell is well-worn by 2010.