Maybe it's just me, but I don't find many horror films that are truly scary anymore. The perplexing thing about that is trying to figure out if it's them or me. Have filmmakers forgotten how to make creepy films that burrow into your psyche and thus make any noise late at night in one's home suspect, or are they taking the easy and lazy way out by going for the cheap "jump" scares? Then again, maybe I have too many that I've become numb to the efforts to frighten me and/or perhaps age (and the realization that there are far scarier things in the real world than up on the screen) has become a factor in my response to them?
Whatever the cause, it's been a long time since I've been completely spooked. And that's because most such offerings come off as rote, uninspired and/or predictable and repetitive to yours truly. Some, on the other hand, are quite funny in an entertaining fashion along the lines of an amusement park's haunted house attraction where you can see or at least predict the scare mechanisms at work and appreciate the effect that has on the viewer (with all of that being far more fun with a crowd).
I obviously prefer the latter and had a blast watching last year's "Paranormal Activity" as I laughed aloud on more than one occasion upon seeing the various scares being set up and then executed. For better or worse, I had the same experience with "The Last Exorcism," the latest in the sub-genre of horror films that -- like "PA" before it and leading back to "The Blair Witch Project" -- are designed as "found," real life footage of things that went bump in the night as captured on a video camera by those who got caught in the supernatural mayhem.
Granted, while other horror films contain bits of humor as comic relief amongst all of the "terror," this pic starts off as something of a comedy, or at least satire. As our protagonist (Patrick Fabian) chats with us (via the documentary crew following him) about his loss of religion, disbelief in possessions and the fact that he fakes the exorcism ritual, director Daniel Stamm -- working from a script by Huck Botko & Andrew Gurland -- throws in various amusing to funny to sometimes hilarious asides that produce genuine (rather than fear-induced) laughs.
I've always liked films -- if done correctly or at least competently -- that start in one direction and then turn into another (think of Hitchcock's "Psycho") and this one decidedly transitions from satire to horror. Most will probably find the new direction unnerving, spooky and/or downright scary, but I found it highly amusing and thus entertaining.
Of course, few won't see the twist -- changing from fake to real supernatural doings -- coming long before it arrives. The commercials don't help as they only show the scary stuff and thus everyone will know what's to be expected. Even without that, however, there's little doubt that the tone is going to change and that the faked supernatural stuff is going to turn real (something Whoopi Goldberg's character somewhat similarly experienced in "Ghost," albeit not to the same extent).
For those who will have the traditional response to the change of events, the filmmakers do a decent job of building up the creepiness, especially with 24-year-old Ashley Bell alternating her 16-year-old victim between innocence and uncertainty, terror and apparent possession. I'll admit there are some spooky moments -- that deploy the standard arsenal of such genre offerings, but do so but effectively and with minimal special effects -- but also the usual moments that end up straining credibility.
For instance, I kept wondering why -- after both Nell and her brother (Caleb Landry Jones) end up (separately) in the hospital (one cut badly, the other pregnant and obviously psychologically disturbed -- the police and/or child services didn't ever show up to investigate their home life with their ultra-religious dad (a convincing Louis Herthum). As is oft the case, an added scene or simple script tweak could have remedied that, as well as the usual "why is he going in/back there?" questions that arise from such character actions that everyone else knows aren't for the best.
I also didn't think much of the concluding sequence -- which isn't as good as the similar finales in "Paranormal Activity" or "Blair Witch" -- and its abrupt "that's how it all ended" shot. And some viewers might have issues with the filmmakers seemingly playing it safe by appeasing both sides of the religion issue (mocking extreme practices but then amending that with some "but you know..." material), although I found that added some intriguing shades of gray to the thematic issues and overall storyline.
But those are just small, nit-picky items for what's otherwise a decently constructed little horror pic that had me constantly amused and entertained throughout, be that from regular and haunted house type laughs. "The Last Exorcism" rates as a 6.5 out of 10.
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