REVIEW: 'Last Exorcism' possessed with horrible ending

I can’t remember the last time I left a movie as angry as I left “The Last Exorcism,” a film that, for the first three quarters of its running time, positively purred, and then, as it rounded the final lap, completely, utterly, absolutely, unquestionably, indubitably ruined any good feelings I had for it with a diabolically stupid ending.

As I’ve said before, the worst offense is not the film that reeks from beginning to end, it’s the film with obvious potential that is squandered by ineptitude or indifference. In the case of “The Last Exorcism,” it’s both. 

“The Last Exorcism,” like “The Blair Witch Project,” “Cloverfield” and “Paranormal Activity” before it, is presented as “found footage.” Its subject is pastor Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian), a disillusioned evangelical minister, who, after years of bilking the faithful and performing hundreds of sham exorcisms, has decided to come clean in a documentary exposing his charlatanism.

Cotton receives a letter from a desperate farmer (Louis Herthum) pleading for his help — daughter Nell (Ashley Bell) has been possessed by Satan himself. Intent on showing the world that both demons and the powers that purport to banish them are nothing more than illusions, Cotton accepts the summons. But what he finds at the isolated Louisiana farmhouse challenges his backslidden state and forces him to confront the possibility that the devil may, indeed, be very real and very powerful.

Cotton is a genuinely fascinating character, not the least because he is nearly impossible to dislike. He’s charming and likable, and Fabian plays him with naturalistic, charismatic relish, like most spiritual con men who blur the line between the gospel and entertainment. He’s also mostly decent man, a false prophet who lost his faith but has a child at home with an exorbitantly expensive medical condition that isn’t paying for itself.

The thing is, Cotton genuinely thinks he’s helping people. Their faith and their God, neither of which Cotton believes in, enable them to face the world stronger, and Cotton sees his place as enabling them do just that.

He does not believe demons actually possess people, but if they shed their psychological maladies thanks to his imaginary powers, he is doing good, no?

This is how Cotton Marcus sleeps at night. But, for “The Last Exorcism,” there not only is no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole, there is also no such thing as an atheist at an exorcism.

“If you believe in God,” the film tells us, “then you must believe in the devil.” Fair enough.

“The Last Exorcism” is genuinely creepy. It’s nice to see a film that doesn’t rely on blood and guts for scares. In fact, there are no monsters present, other than those that a great many viewers believe truly exist.

This factor, as in other possession films, such as 1973’s incomparable “The Exorcist,” makes the film eminently more terrifying. The horror here is in your own head far more than it is on the screen.

In fact, the film is somewhat ambiguous about Nell’s condition — if you choose to see her as demonically possessed, there is evidence to support that claim, just as there is every bit as much scientific and medical evidence to support the contention that she is merely mentally deranged.

How, then, does a film built this sturdily explode so spectacularly in its last minutes? Trust me — I veer nowhere near hyperbole when I say that the final moments of “The Last Exorcism” are among the worst I have ever seen — dazzlingly rushed, utterly devoid of dread and flamboyantly stupid. It is as if the filmmakers made up the ending on the spot and shot it in real time.

It is as if the last reel were lost and an ending from an entirely different movie was sutured on to what remained, without anesthesia, deliberation or any care for the appearance of the patient.

Worse yet, “The Last Exorcism” loses its way aesthetically, completely dropping its pretense of found video footage to take on the properties of a traditional, linear story. When the screen cuts to black and the credits begin to roll, you, too, may find yourself possessed — with an intense desire to get your money back.

THE LAST EXORCISM

Cast: Patrick Fabian, Louis Herthum, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr

Director: Daniel Stamm

Theaters: Hollywood, Tinseltown, Carmike, Chapel Hills, Cinemark

Rated: PG-13 (for disturbing violent content and terror, some sexual references and thematic material)

Running Time: 1 hour, 27 minutes