The Last Exorcism: Daniel Stamm

The biggest problem with Daniel Stamm's The Last Exorcism is that it occasionally forgets that it's a found footage movie. Allow me to explain...the film follows Reverend Cotton Marcus, a phoney preacher who performs fake exorcisms. The set-up of the film is that Marcus wants to reveal exorcisms as a scam after he has doubts about them when he hears that a young autistic boy, much like his son, was killed during one. So, he goes out for his final exorcism, a young girl named Nell living in the bayou. After he performs his phoney exorcism (complete with hidden sound speakers blaring demon noises and a cross designed to belch smoke) he leaves them, content that he has done his job. However, Nell somehow manages to follow them while in a strange trance. Long story short, it turns out that she might REALLY be possessed. There are two massive plot twists that I refuse to spoil because they are easily the best parts of the film. Just trust me when I say that the film will not end the way that you might expect. But now I return to my biggest complaint: it forgets that it's a found footage film. There are several shots, mostly transitional ones, where the audience is left scratching their heads wondering who in the hell actually filmed them. I won't spoil the ending, but suffice to say that it leave you wondering several questions: Who found this footage? Why wasn't it destroyed? Who edited it? Who added ORCHESTRAL MUSIC to lost documentary footage? These are major questions that can potentially ruin the intent of the film. And it's a real shame. This is a genuinely impressive film with some compelling performances. Maybe I'm being too harsh on it. After all, these are problems that I doubt that the average audience member would worry about. But they still bug me enough to give it a lower score.

6/10