(PREPARE FOR SPOILERS BUT NOT ENOUGH TO GIVE EVERYTHING AWAY) This was directed by someone you've never heard of and starring actors you won't be able to place, there's only one reason for a movie such as the New Orleans shot "Last Exorcism" to exist: to scare the bejeezus out of you.
Produced by the "Hostel" creator which is the biggest name connected to the project, the movie is an intense snatch of horror-suspense built in the mold of "The Blair Witch Project" and "Paranormal Activity." Translation: It was shot on a shoestring and makes no apologies for it. Instead, it camouflages that low-budget pedigree - even embraces it by posing as a documentary. That way, its imperfections -- shot on video, jittery camera work -- are excusable. Better yet, they sharpen the realism, and the scare factor, when the brimstone hits the fan.
When those scares do come, they're not the result of high-end digital effects. More often than not, they involve something bloody and blurry being thrust suddenly at the camera, then the camera spinning and slamming into door frames as the cameraman runs for his everlovin' life.
You might not have heard of Patrick Fabian (who boasts an impressive string of TV appearances) and Ashley Bell (who doesn't), but they don't act like no-names. Their performances make "The Last Exorcism, " and -- given the buzz the film has generated -- it just might return the favor.
Fabian plays a Baton Rouge preacher named Cotton Marcus (which explains the film's working title, "Cotton, " when it shot in New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish last year). Cotton is charming through and through -- a born performer, according to his wife -- and he knows how to get his congregation eating out of the palm of his hand. More important, he also knows how to manipulate them.
That goes for sermons, and it goes double for exorcisms, a family specialty. But Cotton's got a secret: It's all a sham. After years of hiding the truth, he's pulling back the curtain on the family business, inviting a film crew to document his final case to show how his fakery works.
But this time, there's going to be a short supply of fakery. He's headed to the Sweetzer farm, south of New Orleans, where all hell is about to break loose. It's there he meets young Nell (played by Bell), who is all innocent eyes and sweet smiles.
Except when she's possessed and mutilating cattle.
As good a job as Fabian does as the charming Cotton, Bell is even better playing both sides of Nell's character. It's an eerie transformation, really, and it's a big reason the movie works.
Although "The Last Exorcism" is shot and set in south Louisiana, audiences don't get an overabundance of NOLA scenery. That means -- thankfully -- they don't get an overabundance of Louisiana clichés, either. Director Daniel Stamm is more subtle than that. He uses the region only for atmosphere, for the spooky vibe that descends on the bayou when the sun sets.
Stamm also leaves a lot of questions unanswered in his breathless, go-for-broke final act, which raises hysteria to a fever pitch but never really slows down enough to explain what the heck just happened.
Here's what I do know happened, though: When I left the theater, I was exhausted and freaked out and totally bejeezus-less. And for a movie such as "Last Exorcism, " that's the perfect ending, it's so intense it left a lot of people still sitting in their seats moments into the credits..
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