THE LAST EXORCISM

Reverend Cotton Marcus belongs to a family of ministers of worship for four generations. Educated in the trade since he was four years old, Cotton has performed 47 exorcisms without believing at all that his "patients" were truly demon-possessed. Now, the Reverend intends to retire from this activity and to do so decides to perform a final exorcism in front of the cameras, in order to reveal his tricks and denounce the dangers that lurk behind false cases of demonic possession. For his final exorcism, Cotton goes to Ivanwood, Louisiana, where the sixteen-year-old Nell seems to be possessed by the devil. The mockumentary is born as an expressive language, an original expedient to make stories that are usually not realistic through the simulation of the documentary. "Cannibal Holocaust" lays the foundations without having a real follow-up, "The Cameraman and the Assassin" uses this expressive form as experimentation and "The Blair Witch Project" launches the fashion donating the mockumentary to success and commerciality. Today, the mockumentary more than a language seems to have become a genre in itself, even a trend, since it is practiced with great frequency within the horror genre. The mockumentary pays off: production costs are very low and the return is assured, often transforming into a phenomenon (see "The Blair Witch Project" and "Paranormal Activity"). However, too much supply kills supply and when demand does not always respond positively. In the case of "The Last Exorcism," however, it is not a matter of box office success, since the film has grossed well, but of public favor that seems to have tired of the ex-novelty mockumentary responding with indignation to the last exponent of the trend. Perhaps it is the fault of the decidedly misleading promotional campaign that promises a contemporary version of "The Exorcist" when then the film by Daniel Stamm ("A Necessary Death") has little or nothing to do with Friedkin's film. "The Last Exorcism" essentially talks about religious bigotry and superstition and the dangerous consequences to which all this can lead, it talks about reality and not the fantastic/paranormal but remains until the end anchored to a double interpretation of the facts that gives the film a fascinating ambiguity of reading. Is Nell really demon-possessed? Or is she a victim of a fundamentalist education that has undermined her ability to relate to reality? The screenplay by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland addresses this theme and plays with it skillfully bringing the story towards "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" or, even more, towards that of its German epigone "Requiem." Forget then heads that turn 360° and geysers of greenish vomit, here the beds that dance and the otherworldly screams are just the tricks of the trade of the swindling reverend. However, "The Last Exorcism" does not lack moments of very high tension that well exploit the unease that only mockumentaries are capable of transmitting. The first night that Cotton and his crew spend alone in the house with the presumed demon-possessed has some goosebump-guaranteed finds and the bizarre anti-climax ending manages to leave positively impressed. All the actors perform quite well, from Patrick Fabian ("Partnerperfect.com") in the role of Reverend Marcus, a character very different from the stereotype of the religious man who has lost his faith, to Ashley Bell who offers us a very credible demon-possessed. Also good and intense is Louis Herthum, who plays Nell's father. It is a characteristic that detracts points from "The Last Exorcism," an unforgivable error (I wouldn't know how to call it otherwise!) that takes away credibility as a mockumentary: the film presents effects and soundtrack, a totally cinematic editing (with outdoor bridges!) and subtitles in superimposition, all absolutely unjustified and unjustifiable in the eyes of a story that cannot contain such "finishes," penalty the lack of credibility of the final product. Even the dirty and clumsy style of the shots, made of sudden zooms, blurs, and tremors, does not seem credible, since the shots should be performed by a professional cameraman and not by an amateur. As if to recall at all costs the amateur clumsiness of "The Blair Witch Project" even where it is not needed. "The Last Exorcism" therefore results in a valid and almost original product in the genre in which it is inserted, understood both as a mockumentary and as an exorcism film. Some additional precautions to make it more credible as a mockumentary would have given it, however, a more consistent depth, but the film remains enjoyable and at times unsettling.