SJ Reviews" 'The Last Exorcism'..Fake documentary starts great then falters (2 1/2)

[SouthernJet]

'The Last Exorcism' is newest twist on getting the demon out of innocent girl genre.

It really does have a wonderful 1st half of flick as we see some original stuff here.

Its main religious character is a child preacher now grown and cynical.

He sees preaching and exorcisms (he does on side as a con man) as all fake and just a way to pay bills.

When asked why he does it if he doesnt believe, he says 'They need to believe its real for me to cure them and I need the cash'. He is thinking of leaving the religion vocation but decides to take a documentary film crew around with him on one last exorcism to prove to the world that these are fake and have other roots that bring on the peoples trauma.

So we see the jittery camera type look as the crew follows him. Too many spoilers would be given if I go much farther. Needless to say, he encounters more than he has ever seen before on this case and the TV crew is there to see it as well.

Problems is the last 1/3 of film really falls apart and goes into some formula stuff and doesnt hold the audience like the first part of film did. All in all, not a waste of a night and a decent film in this genre.

2 1/2 's