'The Last Exorcism': Horror with a documentary spirit

It might be called "The Last Exorcism," but it's just the latest in what has become a kind of horror-movie juggernaut, the movie-within-the-movie that proves the adage that less is more - even when produced by a filmmaker who's always believed that more is, in fact, not enough.

Presented by Eli Roth - creator of the "Hostel" franchise and a prime mover in what's frequently referred to as "torture porn" - "The Last Exorcism," which opens Friday, is part of an emerging genre of docu-horror. The trend started in 1999 with "The Blair Witch Project," but more recently has included "[Rec]," "[Rec] 2," "Quarantine," "Cloverfield" and "Paranormal Activity."

Generating claustrophobia

Eschewing eviscerations, amputations, decapitations and free-flowing corpuscles, "The Last Exorcism" features breakout performances by Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Louis Herthum and Caleb Landry Jones. Set in a neo-Gothic South, it's about a charmingly dishonest preacher named Cotton Marcus (Fabian), who decides to come clean about his sham exorcisms for the benefit of a documentary - which gets made while we watch. The conceit of "The Last Exorcism," therefore, is that we see only what the documentary camera sees, a technique that generates immediacy, urgency, a certain amount of claustrophobia.

Limiting what an audience can see "makes it even scarier," said director Daniel Stamm, "because the audience is aware that there's a whole world outside the frame and that they could be under attack at any moment. You take away the fourth wall, and it makes the audience much more vulnerable."

Roth agrees. "When you shoot this, you feel like you're in the room with these people in a way you don't get when you're making a straight narrative."

While suggestion and implication are large guns in the "Exorcism" arsenal, Roth's name carries considerable marketing weight: The director of "Hostel," "Hostel 2," and "Cabin Fever"; producer of "2001 Maniacs" and "Grindhouse," and the portrayer of the homicidal lunatic Sgt. Donny Donowitz in "Inglourious Basterds," Roth is synonymous with excess. So he's eager to disabuse horror fans of the notion that "The Last Exorcism" is going to be "Hostel 3" (which, by the way, is currently in production).

"It's not about power tools," Roth said of "Exorcism." "It's about possession. It's a psychological horror film, and when you go in knowing that's what it is, I think you're more than satisfied." He still likes gore, Roth said, "but I'm attracted to material not just because it's really violent or rated R. I just want to make good, smart, scary, fun genre movies."

And make them economically. The happy coincidence for filmmakers in docu-mode is that portable, affordable cameras and twitchy effects on screen are not only less expensive, they're scarier: Limiting the point of view is like turning the audience into a kidnap victim whose only sightline is through an airhole in a car trunk: No one knows for sure what's outside the frame, but it usually isn't good.

Such deliberately unpolished filmmaking can pack a big payoff: "Paranormal Activity," which was about the alleged surveillance video of nighttime demons, was made for less than $15,000 and has earned back about $108 million.

A video game feel

As the film goes by, the characters' point of view becomes the audience's point of view. "This is something we took from video games, which are something both Jaume and I are very fond of," said Paco Plaza, co-director of "[Rec]" and "[Rec] 2," with Jaume Balagueró. "We play a lot, and we wanted to bring that to the movie, the feeling that you're not just watching something but that it surrounds you and you are part of the action."

"Last Exorcism" director Stamm is well versed in the technique of mockumentary - "if you want to use that evil term," he said. "It's a problem: No matter what terms you use, it suggests it's not a real style. But it's not fake. It's alternative realism. And there should be a better name for it."

He used the technique in his first feature, "A Necessary Death" (2008), and it was that film that got him the "Exorcism" gig: The project had hit a financial wall, and screenwriters Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland - who had been scheduled to direct - had to move on to their next project ("The Virginity Hit"). Roth agreed to come onboard, and his involvement convinced the French company Studio Canal to finance "The Last Exorcism." Still, they needed a director, and relative newcomer Stamm fit the bill. Lionsgate eventually bought the movie and launched what amounts to a media blitzkrieg.

"Eli was on TV the other night, and there I was seeing a scene from my movie on 'Jay Leno.' It's surreal," said the German-born director. "Yesterday, I was in traffic in L.A., staring at a 'Last Exorcism' billboard for about a minute. I thought 'How self-involved am I?' And then I looked over, and there was another ad on the side of a bus."

Although very different from his own movies, Roth predicted "The Last Exorcism" would find a welcome home among the very ardent and demanding, horror-film fan base. "What I notice in horror is that people's enjoyment is very directly related to their expectations," he said. "On 'Cabin Fever,' if people heard it was a very weird, low-budget, '80s-style splatter movie that was funny and scary and totally nuts, they loved it. If they were told it was the scariest movie ever made, they hated it. It's all about what the expectations were."

Stamm thinks they should expect something totally unique. "It's interesting," he said, "but different movies in this style focus on so many different things. 'Paranormal Activity' was a perfectly executed technical exercise, but it had nothing to do with acting. 'The Exorcist,' and even my first movie, are all about acting and not so much about horror. Each entry in this style seems to focus on a different thing, but still the first two things that come to mind with most people is 'The Blair Witch Project' for the style and 'The Exorcist' for the content. And they're very different movies."

Eli Roth's scare fare 

Thanks to his "Hostel" franchise and his various side projects (such as "Inglourious Basterds" and "Grindhouse"), Eli Roth's association with a movie has currency with horror fans and usually means an irreverent attitude and unhinged relationship to violence. This makes "The Last Exorcism" something of a departure, but it remains to be seen whether we can expect an all-new Roth to emerge via any of these upcoming projects:

"The Man With the Iron Fist" - "I wrote a kung fu movie with RZA from Wu-Tang Clan, a kung fu spaghetti Western, something totally different, that he's going to direct and star in," Roth says.

"Funhouse" - A remake of the 1981 chiller by Tobe Hooper ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre"), sometimes titled "Funhouse: Carnival of Terror." "A fun, gory, 3-D horror film," Roth says.

Untitled Roth sci-fi project - "My own script, a science-fiction film I'm really excited about," he says. "I've been so busy with 'Last Exorcism' " I haven't finished it, but I'm planning on starting that this fall."

"The Other Woman" - Scripted and directed by "Last Exorcism" writers Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland. Roth has says the movie will explore "the worst nightmares of those who have had extramarital affairs, and the sickest fantasies of those who have been scorned."