Back in 1999, audiences were thrilled with the novelty of "The Blair Witch Project" a film some people were actually fooled into believing it's real. Late last year "Paranormal Activity" pulled off a similar feat and became the most profitable film of all time. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me," as the old saying goes. However, there was much time between Paranormal and Blair Witch but now since Paranormal there have been at least two similar movies "The Fourth Kind" and now the latest "The Last Exorcism". Eli Roth ("Hostel" and "Cabin Fever") produces but does not direct the latest experiment in the found footage craze.

The film starts out well as we follow Reverend Cotton Marcus, a flimflam preacher, played very charismatically by Patrick Fabian. Rev. Marcus decides to do a documentary about performing what he hopes will be his last exorcism. The preacher has performed many exorcisms in the past and makes it known that all exorcisms are basically an elaborate stage act for the benefit of a family who want explanation for things they can't explain like why their crops failed or why their cattle is turning up mutilated. Once the exorcism is performed, those who wanted it find their minds to be at rest. Now, there is also another reason why this con man preacher wants to perform the ritual and that's because some of these exorcisms performed by others are causing harm to the person who has been determined to be possessed sometimes even causing death. Like the Amazing Randi, the preacher goes to show how exorcisms are fake, how they are done, and how the family would be better off just by having peace of mind of having the rite done.

The other nice performance in the film is Ashley Bell as Nell, the daughter of a farmer who's cattle are turning up mutilated. Nell is a seemingly nice church going home schooled girl but then she wakes up covered in blood and has no memory of her actions after the farmer's cattle are discovered eviscerated. The farmer, Louis Sweetzer (Louis Herthum), thinks it was his possessed girl. The son, Caleb (Caleb Landry Jones), thinks his father is a religious crackpot and a drunk. Preacher Marcus performs his exorcism for the benefit of the farmer and his children but the girl is not cured. 

The film has the benefit of two good performances in Fabian and Bell but it's steeped in stereotypes, religious hysteria, and has a generally unsatisfying and ridiculous ending that comes out of left field. How long will audiences buy into films of this nature? If filmmakers expect us to suspend our disbelief and believe this is found footage, why is there a music score? Also, shocking an audience is easy to do but creating tension and suspense is much harder. You may jolt a few times but there are very few legitimate scares. Also, there is a point where the possessed Nell takes the video camera and kills an animal. When the filmmakers and Rev. Marcus find Nell with the camera they take it from her but why don't they think to watch the video? The film is so light on plot and action and to be honest not much really happens until the very end. The conclusion will leave audiences just as unhappy as those who were frustrated with the ending of Blair Witch.

Bottom Line: Curiosity seekers will definitely seek this out no matter what but most will be disappointed as the gimmick of found footage is wearing thin. Patrick Fabian's nicely tuned and charismatic performance carries the film only so far until you realize just how little substance is actually there. Even diehard horror fans will be disappointed because there's really not much gore (it is a PG-13 after all) and not much in way of scares. This film is well worth skipping unless you are so curious you must see it, just don't say you weren't warned.

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