THE LAST EXORCISM (USA 2010) ***
Directed by Daniel Stamm

THE LAST EXORCSM has doubtful priest (THE EXORCIST also featured a doubtful priest Jason Miller) performing an exorcism.  The difference here is not the question of the priest’s faith, but whether the girl is genuinely possessed or a bit mental.

Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) comes from a preacher family.  He understands that religion requires money and is a business.  Cotton is good at what he is doing, being charismatic and all but when asked to perform an exorcism on Nelly (Ashley Bell), he does according to the book, but wonders if she has been abused by her father, Louis (Louis Herthum).  The beginning of the film shows Cotton at work in his church.

Cotton agrees to have a documentary crew film the exorcism.  This gives Stamm’s film a documentary feel, as he and the family are all asked questions as interviewees and this film is treated like a documentary.  Treated as one but this film is fiction.  Filming a fiction film as a doc has the advantage that the film appears authentic, with shaky camera, interviews, voiceover and all.  THE LAST EXORCSIM feels a bit like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT at times, with the hovering, shaky camera following its subjects around the house.  But often, a character will ask the cameraman to shut off the camera which is quite the distraction.  The audience also wonders quite a few times, why certain scenes are allowed to be shot or how the camera manages to catch a stabbing on film.
It helps that Stamm has created a genuinely creepy family from the fundamentalist angry father, Louis, the odd son, Caleb (Caleb Landry Jones) and the frightened Nelly.
Who has abused Nelly that she has come to this awful state of affairs.  Director Stamm provides the answer in a sort of copout way.  He flashes the face of the villain at the end of the movie, so that the audience assumes him to be the one.  Still, THE LAST EXORCISM is scary enough to provide horror fans with their kicks.