The Last Exorcism

A phony preacher in Louisiana (Patrick Fabian) stages fake exorcisms for psychosomatic cases of demonic possession; now, with a documentary film crew in tow, it looks like he might be up against the real thing. Written by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland and directed by Daniel Stamm, here’s the latest pseudo-documentary in the Blair Witch vein, and we know before the ticket seller takes our money that this one is going to end just the way all the others do. For that matter, the title is a dead giveaway—or maybe you think this is the “last” exorcism because when it’s over the preacher’s going to retire to Boca Raton with his wife and son. Suspense is nil, phoniness abounds; the story supposedly takes place in the backwoods outside Baton Rouge, but the actors don’t even bother to affect Louisiana accents.