The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
Directed by Scott Derrickson
I think for three years straight now my friend Jason has been tell me to watch this for my October marathon, so I finally got around to checking it out. Now that I have Apple TV I have a few more streaming services and this was actually on the AMC app, so damn if it is free I’m watching it! I’m not big into Exorcism movies, I’ve seen the Exorcist, Devil Inside, and Last Exorcism and they’re all basically the same. The Exorcism of Emily Rose was different, and not at all what I expected, here is why…
This movie’s plot is what really threw me for a loop. This is less about the exorcism as it is about the trial of the priest that performed the exorcism. Not so much a spoiler but Emily Rose passes away after the exorcism and the priest is on trial for her death. The prosecution tries to say that Emily wasn’t in fact possessed by demons but actually suffering from epilepsy and psychosis. Emily was prescribed medication for the epilepsy and it had little to no effect. Her and her family being devote Catholics believed her body was being possessed by demons and requested an exorcism. We see everything that happened in a series of flashbacks, from the alleged possession to the exorcism. It is obvious to us that she was possessed by something, but can the defense attorney change the minds of the jury and keep the priest out of prison?
The acting is really good. Jennifer Carpenter plays Emily Rose and man, does she steal every scene. You feel her pain and anguish not only through her words but through her actions and facial expressions. Laura Linney plays the defense attorney and she is also quite good, you can feel that she truly cares about presenting the truth of what happened to Emily Rose. Father Richard Moore is played by Tom Wilkinson and just like the others he is great. This maybe one of the best acted horror movies I have seen in some time. The only question is, is it a horror movie? I kind of see this as a courtroom drama with horror elements honestly.
The special effects are ok, but hey they didn’t need to be amazing for this type of movie and how it all plays out. Since the majority of this takes place in the court, we really don’t need crazy effects to boost anything. The camera work and editing were a little distracting at times. You have a lot of fade to black transitions like this is a sitcom going to commercial. Very awkward and a little distracting at times, but overall there isn’t too much to complain about.
One last thing I’ll touch on is the fact that this movie claims to be based on a true story. I always question when movies make that claim. I did some research and this is loosely based on the life and events of Anneliese Michel a young German woman whom underwent a series of exorcisms back in the 1970s. Anneliese claimed to be possessed by 5 separate demons which caused her to speak in different voices, contort her body and hear numerous voices telling her terrible things. Her knees actually broke and the tenons tore from excessive praying during this time. Towards the end of her life she was unable to movie on her own and only weighted like 80lbs. The priest whom conducted her numerous exorcisms was put on trial after her death and was sentenced to 6 months in jail and 3 years of probation for manslaughter.
This isn’t at all what I expected in an exorcism movie, but it was pretty good. A little long and slow in parts but all and all very entertaining. Like I said the acting was top notch and the exorcism scenes were creepy. Not sure if I would watch this again, due to the slowness of the film as a whole but I would definitely suggest this to people. I would give this a B+. The acting is just so good but the movie itself kinda creeps along in parts.
