The Last Exorcism (2010)

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Halloween Reviews 2020

Director: Daniel Stamm

Writers: Huck Botko & Andrew Gurland

Stars: Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Louis Herthum, Caleb Landry Jones, Tony Bentley, John Wright, Jr.

A priest who lost his faith (Patrick Fabian) agrees to perform one final exorcism for a camera crew (Iris Bahr and Adam Grimes) in order to expose the practice as a fraud. 

First of all, I do not think the ending is as bad as so many reviewers have written. 

Maybe it's because I don't see enough horror films, but I did not see it coming. 

However, the real reason I was pulled in was the characters, particularly the priest Cotton Marcus. 

Fabian gives an effective, low-key performance of a good, conflicted man who begins to rediscover his calling when faced with a truly supernatural menace. 

There are none of the out-there grotesque scenes that was suggested by the marketing, which may help account for the disappointment of so many. 

I consider this another success for the shaky camera genre.

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