To steal a thought from myself, I don't think artistic theft is that big a deal.
For one, much like punching someone in the dark or cashing your grandma's Social Security check, it's a victimless crime. If you take an idea or a technique from an earlier work, it's not like that work loses anything. Really, imitating a successful film can improve that film's status. People don't put Citizen Kane on top of "best ever" lists because it's the most moving or entertaining movie of all time. I mean, it's in black and white and it's full of dead people.
-- Local show times, theaters, trailer.
No, they rank it there because everyone since has robbed it emptier than nanna's retirement fund. I have to think that's a good thing, if only because senseless musical interludes died the gurgling death they deserved. I think when people complain about movies ripping off other movies, they're mostly complaining about bad movies stealing badly. When you do it right, like The Last Exorcism, nobody should be holding a little cinematic robbery against it.
Preacher Patrick Fabian is ready to expose the stage tricks and charlatanry of exorcisms. Teaming up with a camera crew, he heads to the farm of Louis Herthum, who believes his teenage daughter Ashley Bell is possessed by a demon and killing his livestock.
Fabian "exorcises" Bell, but her problems return that night. Though Fabian fears for her mental state, a drunk and violent Herthum demands he perform a second exorcism — or Herthum will take care of her himself.
To say The Last Exorcism owes something to The Blair Witch Project is like saying my life owes something to a daily intake of food and water. But is stealing such a crime? I mean, I bet they didn't use a weapon. Stealing smart techniques from classic movies is a safer move than bungling up something totally new.
The Last Exorcism's documentary-style footage is the most obvious theft/inspiration, but it extends to several specifics, including a realistic, believable tone that ends up being a big asset. It's a neat trick by director Daniel Stamm, who maintains the mystery around Bell as long as he can.
Also, you know one of the reasons a lot of people silently called me a dumbass when I said up there that Blair Witch is a classic? Because the whiny characters made you hope they stumbled into Saw 12 or Hostel 3. By contrast, Fabian is a charismatic, modestly funny lead, and the family dynamics of the supporting cast lend weight to the drama.
That's important when the stakes are more concerned with a young girl's health than, say, the Antichrist flying out of a volcano, running off with your wife, and selling the East Coast back to England. It's a real coup that Stamm is able to wring a lot of tension and a few scares out of a teenager's mental problems.
The problem with stealing, however, means The Last Exorcism isn't revolutionary or even that innovative. The ending is going to turn a few people into grumpasauruses on the ride home, too.
But I say it earns it. Stamm's direction is unmanipulative and centered more around what this means for his characters than what if any supernatural wharrgarblry is going down. It may not be up to the level of its inspiration, but it is a suspenseful, well-developed piece of work.
Grade: B
