A Quick Tip by Trekscribbler

There's a wonderfully little idea wrapped up inside THE LAST EXORCISM that -- given the hands of a competent director -- may actually have blossomed to frightening realization: a charlatan preacher goes about trying to prove faith is misguided when he attempts a 'Punk'd'-style documentary about fake exorcisms. The twist? He's actually caught in the middle of what may (or may not have been) a real-life incident of possession. Again, in the hands of a competent director, THE LAST EXORCISM could've been great scares; sadly, director Daniel Stamm FORGETS that he's supposed to be filming a single-camera documentary, and he turns THE LAST EXORCISM into a creative mash-up of documentary-style exposition and clearly studio-staged two-camera dialogue scenes shot to look as if they were completed documentary style. Did he seriously forget that the documentary crew sent out with the pastor only had a single camera? Either he did, or he fell back on a lack of creativity and figured it could all be fixed in post-production. Unlike serious documentary-twist films, the script for THE LAST EXORCISM also never completely tells one cohesive story from start to finish (the film provides no answers regarding the possession, morphing into a disappointing commentary against small town religion in a bizarre and unpredictable twist of developments), so, sadly, it ends up being little more than a clever snuff film than it does a welcome addition to the mockumentary sub-genre the film industry is currently riding. Still, I give it one star for effort because, up until Stamm forgot he was supposed to be constructing a documentary, he had the makings of a great li'l film.