The Exorcism of Emily Rose Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)September 7th, 2005
THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2005 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE is probably a cinematic first since it is both a horror movie and a courtroom drama, all based on a famous true story. Okay, the degree of the truth is in the eye of the beholder, but real-life Emily Rose's grave is a shrine to those who believe that a demonic possession did occur and resulted in the death of this college age young woman. Rose is played athletically by newcomer Jennifer Carpenter, who manages to contort her body into extremely strange shapes when she is possessed.
This jury of one almost came in with a hung jury for the movie itself. I'm not a horror movie fan, and, although THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE did provide all of the standard scary movie tricks of frightening images and sudden loud noises, I was never scared and never even jumped once. Still, as a representative of the genre, it was okay, albeit not especially surprising.
What won my vote were the extensive trial sequences, as Ethan Thomas, a said-to-be religious prosecutor, tries Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson), a priest who conducted the exorcism on Emily. She was said to have been possessed by a full half dozen demons simultaneously. Campbell Scott gives one of his weaker performances as the prosecutor, but that is more that made up for by a splendid piece of acting by Oscar nominee Laura Linney (KINSEY and YOU CAN COUNT ON ME) who plays Erin Bruner, the agnostic and ambitious lawyer who is hired by the Archdiocese to defend the priest. The Archdiocese wants her to convince Father Moore to accept the very generous settlement offer of 12 months in jail with the expectation that he would get off in just 6 months for good behavior. Father Moore firmly and unequivocally declines the offer since he wants more than anything to "tell Emily's story."
In this film, which sometimes feels like a pilot for "Law & Order: Exorcism Unit," the movie continually suffers from predictability. When one witness shows up out of the blue to testify, the entire audience knows what comes next. And, when Erin finds out that the demons, who are starting to come after her too, punch in every night at 3 a.m. sharp, you know exactly what she will now do with her bedside digital alarm clock she has been so fond of staring at nightly. The movie does have a nice small, ending twist.
My non-director's cut of the film would eliminate almost all of the explicitly scary stuff. I'd make it strictly a courtroom drama and would try to frighten people by talking about the horrors rather than showing them. But the teenagers and the young adults who buy most of the tickets for movies like this would stay away in droves from my version. It's probably a good thing that I don't run a studio.
THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE runs 1:54. It is rated PG-13 for "thematic material, including intense/frightening sequences and disturbing images" and would be acceptable for teenagers who can handle scary movies.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, September 9, 2005. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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