Demonic possessions have been done to death in Hollywood. Yet somehow, over the summer The Last Exorcism managed to scare some new life into the tired old genre. Shot in documentary style, the movie follows the tormented Reverend Cotton Marcus as he encounters a supposedly possessed girl named Nell. Are the terrifying events unfolding real or just some elaborate hoax? Now, with The Last Exorcism hitting DVD and Blu-ray on January 4th, lead actor Patrick Fabian spoke exclusively with me about his brush with evil. Read our conversation after the jump.

Looking back, what initially caught your attention about the script for The Last Exorcism?

You've seen a bunch of horror films involving exorcisms so you almost roll your eyes "Ugghhhh.... We're doing this again?" Instead, when I started hearing about it, I didn't actually read a script. I was told there was a premise and to come into the audition because they needed someone strong on their feet, who was charismatic, and that sort of thing. I was intrigued. When I went in for the audition, I met director Daniel Stamm, who had me do a couple of improvs with preaching. For my call back, he got me to come up with a sermon and ran me through the paces. After I got the role, I read the script. I was told of what was going on, but I had no specifics. The process itself was intriguing and the fact it wasn't a hack and slash was appealing. Not that those don't have a place, but I wasn't necessarily interested in becoming part of a body count. It was originally called Cotton, was really fun to look at a guy falling from grace, and then trying to figure out how to make amends for a life ill lived.

With all these prior exorcism flicks like The Exorcist and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, why do you believe this movie struck such a chord with the audience?

Even though it has exorcism in the title, which sort of gets you a certain fanbase and level of interest, I think word got out fairly quickly that it wasn't your run of the mill horror film or exorcism movie. Also, timing has a lot to do with it. It's been a while since Emily Rose was out so it was a pocket that hasn't been filled in a while. We happened to benefit from the idea that no one had touched the subject in a while. It was told so well and in such an original way that word of mouth spread really fast. And let's face it, in the summer time with all the big Toy Story 18 and Shrek 90, it's great to have something that hits that sweet spot. End of summer getting ready to go back to school, where's my scary? There it is!

How did the handheld/documentary style of shooting affect or inform your performance?

First of all, you're always trained not to look at the camera. You're always trained to pretend it's not there. It took me about half a day to get really comfortable with it. The good news was that Iris Bahr, who is fairly unseen in the film and plays a documentary filmmaker, was basically a set of eyes and acting partner the entire film.

Was it only one camera or multiple cameras, with footage edited together?

No, it was one camera, and I have to give Daniel credit. He really had an idea of what he wanted from the get go. When they were covering the footage, there was no "Let's catch that over the shoulder." If we left something, that was it. There was no going back for stuff.  He really had an idea of which way this had to be told and he had a good idea of how the audience needed to have the story revealed to them. When we were shooting it, I was unable to piece it together myself.  When I saw the final product, I was like "Oh, that's why you have directors, and that's why you have actors, because I did not see the way he was doing it."

It's interesting that your co-star Ashley Bell is actually double jointed, which she showcased in some scenes. How creeped out were you by her portrayal and ability to contort?

I totally was. I give so much credit to Ashley. She was so committed to both sides of the coin, playing the innocent Nell and then we went to the exorcism scenes where she was bent over like that. There was no acting involved there. I was truly creeped out. It was very easy to respond to what she was doing, which really lends an authenticity to those scenes.

How was it filming in some extremely cramped quarters with a lot of night shoots?

Yeah, it was hot, night, and there were swamp rats outside the lights. There were mosquitoes and more bugs than I've ever seen in my life. It was hot in New Orleans; I had never really appreciated how hot it was. I was wearing a linen suit to keep it authentic so we're not cleaning it a whole lot. It's just dirty, I'm dirty, I'm smelly, it's 2 a.m., and I have a girl in a bloody dress running around screaming.

Moviegoers had mixed feelings about the "twist ending." Why did that spooky, but ambiguous, conclusion serve the movie instead of a more definitive resolution for your character and his situation?

The movie ending is a problem for people who were kind of expecting more of a body count, or expecting more of a horrific thing from the word go. I think they sensed they were a little gypped. They wanted a little more blood. I don't mind that it's open ended. Someone pointed out to me when they saw the film that you don't see my body. You don't see me get killed. All you see me is walk towards the fire and then the cameraman meets his end. Consequently, the question remains whether the whole thing was staged. Perhaps, there's a Last Exorcism Part II out there where Cotton resurfaces with this footage and says "Look, this really was the Devil and I survived it." I think when you have a horror film, rarely do you have something where everyone comes away saying "Oh my God! I'm so satisfied with the ending!" Part of the fun of a horror film is that creep factor that keeps egging you along. The natural storytelling of any horror film has to come to some weird conclusion that is going to be unsatisfying because you can't maintain that sense of unease the entire time.  It has to go somewhere. Even like the ending of Inception this year. Does the top stop spinning or not? I don't know. Does it ruin the film for you? I don't know. Does it?

Since you threw out the "S" word, has anyone mentioned a sequel to you?

No, not yet. We're very excited about the DVD and Blu-ray coming out on January 4th. I guess it's still opening in markets like Australia. They are going to let this ride itself and see where it goes before they make any decisions on that, unless you happen to have some inside information you'd like to spring on me.

Sure, there's going to be a multiple deal. Last Exorcism IV: A New Beginning.

That sounds great. They sent me over some of the things that are going to be on the DVD extras. I went and did this commentary which was totally fun and interesting. I had never done this before. I also see on the Blu-Ray combo pack they are going to have audition footage. They snuck that in there at the bottom of things to look at. I'm like "Audition footage? Now that will be interesting!" There's not going to be any good lights. I'm curious to see what I decided to wear for my audition that day.

How involved was Eli Roth in this project?

He was in New Orleans egging us on, reminding us "Let's make it scarier! We're in a horror film so let's keep that creep factor up!" He was such a great cheerleader in the process from the word go. When the script crossed his desk, if he's not excited about it, I'm not talking to you right now. That's how important Eli's enthusiasm for the project was.

Regarding the DVD, are there any deleted scenes that would have added to the film?

They haven't sent me a copy of it so I haven't been able to explore the whole thing to find out. I know they have The Making of The Last Exorcism featurette. Then, with the audio commentary with Eli and Eric [Newman], I don't think they are actually putting in additional footage at this particular junction. I know at one point we toyed around with shooting some things that were possible alternative endings. At one point, we thought we might go in a different direction. We shot a little bit of footage, but we never really explored it. I thought they might put that on there, but there's really not enough to give you a satisfying end of that either.

Can you expand on what alternate ending you filmed?

Well, at one point we tried the idea that the fire had happened, the ceremony had happened, and we were back in church and I was preaching again. I was telling people I had proof now that the devil exists. I have a video screen and we show pictures of the fire. Then all of a sudden, I stand Nell up in the congregation and say "There she is! She's all healed! And I believe! And it's your job to believe! And it's your job to go out there and spread the word that the Devil is real!" Then just conveniently, I have some DVDs in the back of the church with my picture on it for $9.99. Totally hilarious and great. A different movie decidedly if you go that way.

In addition, what we shot was a whole lot of footage of every scene that you see. Unfortunately, you can't get everything in there. The people that we interviewed, like when we were getting down there to the ranch and I was saying there was a backwards area, and everyone has a UFO or demon story. We must have spent a day with about 20 of the funniest people you will ever meet in your life. All I did was wind them up and say "So tell me about your demon story....." and they'd go off. We'd just be howling and having such a good time. Of course, there's just not enough time in the movie to have all those people so it got cut down to about three of them. I regretted not having an outtakes trailer of them.

Yes, bloopers are always worth a good laugh. Do you have any funny, scary, or memorable anecdotes from the set?

It was night. I'm supposed to come down the stairs and find something. We're tired. I'm tired. It's late. They had sent Ashley home. I come down the stairs and I can't see anything. All of a sudden, in the bloody dress, she comes lurching out, chases me, and I'm screaming like a baby. I turn around, go running up the stairs, and I'm like "Ahhhhhhhhh!!!" Turns out it was the hair and make-up person, who went ahead and put on Ashley's clothing. They're all laughing and I'm like "Great! That's cool. Scare the exorcist. That's really funny!"

The Last Exorcism hits stores on Blu-ray combo pack, DVD & digital download Tuesday, January 4.