I don't care what anyone says, every exorcism or demonic possession movie after "The Exorcist", except for a few, have been an attempt to equal the shock, terror, and disturbing qualities of that film. "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" is one that in no way tries to touch "The Exorcist". It is its own film as opposed to being a slave to it. And for that reason, it is the best demonic possession film in the post-Exorcist world.
What's very interesting about Emily Rose's story is that the film picks up at the very end of the main story, or what we at least figure to be, and is told through flashback but not in the traditional sense. The story starts as a family in a very old and rundown house sits looking, exhausted, beaten and weary. They are then joined by Father Moore (played by the very versatile Tom Wilkinson), a priest who also looks like he has been beaten in a game of chess that he could not win.
It turns out that Father Moore has just finished an unsuccessful exorcism in the family home of Emily Rose. Unsuccessful not because she wasn't freed from demonic possession, but because Emily lost her life in the process. Moore is arrested and incarcerated as he is held responsible. This is when our true main protagonist of the story enters, Erin Bruner, an ace lawyer who has just been promoted at the law film where she works. It is a the celebration of here promotion where she hears of a potentially wondrous case about a girl who had died while under the care of a priest trying to exercise her from demons. Wondrous for her career, that is.
But as Bruner delves deeper and deeper into the mystery of what happened to the young Emily Rose, she is warned by Father Moore that the case is surrounded by dark forces that will attempt to destroy her, because you know, that's what dark forces do. Soon after, Bruner begins to experience strange things that she can not explain, similar to what Emily had experienced. However, the true opponent she is worried about is lawyer Ethan Thomas, who is trying with every fiber of his being to put Moore behind bars and dispel any notion that the supernatural was involved in the death of Emily Rose.
The picture is a very effective courtroom drama. Arguably, more of a courtroom film than a horror movie. Bruner is now dealing with a client she must defend and a top that continually stares her in the face and asks her what she believes in. She on the other hand, is trying to care less about the supernatural elements of the case and trying to create a strategy. She knows her opponent, the cold and calculating Thomas (of course, villified in ways that make us dislike him from the first moment he speaks in the courtroom) who is going to play the angle that Emily, who had been on prescription medication to keep a mental disorder in her mind under control, had been denied her drugs by Moore and that an exorcism was the only way to go. Negligent homicide.
So what did happen to her?
In the very eerie flashbacks we get to see Emily (Jennifer Carpenter) was given a full scholarship to a University and is the first of her family to go to college. At the campus dorm, Emily is seeing strange shadows, and being touched and controlled by unseen forces that culminate in an episode in the campus chapel. Another particularly eerie flashback is the actual exorcism taking place in Emily's room and culminating in the family's barn. It is a sequence that reminded me of very old fashioned, romantic filmmaking.
Jennifer Carpenter delivers a stunning performance as the title character in
"The Exorcism of Emily Rose"
The way the scene was lit to the way the camera moved. Once the exorcism began, the style changed from very steady, clean shots to very shaky, hand-held work. Carpenter is absolutely stunning as Rose, bending and contorting in way that one would think is not normal. Not to mention that she can play the sweet and innocent girl before the possession and the very disturbed, angry, confrontational, and violent being she becomes.
Wilkinson was rather dry in the role of Father Moore, not really bringing much to the table, but he was very sincere in all of his deliveries of dialogue, something that the role required more than anything else. It is that sincerity that makes us hope that he is held innocent for the "murder" of Emily Rose. That makes the audience say there is no way that this man could have been willingly able to kill her. I felt for him as he was held in prison, thinking about the evil that he was facing, not in the courtroom, but away from it.
They say that the best villains are those that don't think they are evil, and Campbell Scott's Ethan Thomas is certainly by the book and logical. I don't like that his character began to take the notion of the exorcism as a ridiculous thing and began to make jabs at it. I thought it seemed out of character based on what we had heard him say in the first two acts of the film.
But most importantly, "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" is about hope. Or is it? I don't want to make any mention of spoilers, but the ending is not open ended and it is not resolved. It asks the viewer the question of what do we believe in? The story is told from two sides, obviously favoring the exorcism side (it is what got people into the theater in the first place) and tries to look at both objectively. The audience is more than likely going to side with the fact that this girl was possessed because that's the type of experience they were looking for.
"Emily Rose" brought much more to the table because it avoided being the now characterized demonic possession movies featuring the possessed only speaking in tongues, being vulgar, and contorting in all sorts of different positions. It is a smart film that studies the characters and examines their beliefs. Also, it only gives us snippets of Emily's story that come from the point of view of Father Moore as opposed to. Besides the storyline with the doctor present at the exorcism (that was the worst part about the entire thing, talk about a pointless character).
7/10
- Rated PG - 13
- Directed by Scott Derrickson
- Written by Paul Harris Boardman & Scott Derrickson
- Runtime - 119 minutes
- 6.6 Stars of 10 on IMDb
- 45% on Rotten Tomatoes
- Widescreen theatrical cut on DVD for $5.86
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