The Exorcism of Emily Rose

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (Director: Scott Derrickson)

Derrickson and writer/partner Paul Harris Boardman have collaborated on a few other projects, most notably Urban Legends: Final Cut, which John Ottman directed. Derrickson directed a straight-to-video Hellraiser chapter entitled Inferno, and that's pretty much it.

Obviously, Sony Pictures and the various other companies who made this film wanted to do an exorcism movie without being compared to The Exorcist. Based on the true story of a woman named Anneliese Michel in 1976, the events that take place are awfully similar to the iconic horror film. Here, the story concerns her death, and how the priest sent to perform the exorcism was charged with reckless homicide for recommending that Emily stay off prescribed drugs for epilepsy, or "psychotic epilepsy." So, in effect, the movie becomes a horror courtroom drama.

The priest, Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson), is defended by fast-tracking attorney Erin Bruner (Laura Linney), who doesn't believe in demons or possessions and wants to get as many facts and witnesses on her side as possible. She faces off against prosecutor Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott), who proclaims to be religious but is in actuality the harsh skeptic (hmm...a lawyer with religious skepticism...where have I seen that?). The story of Emily Rose is related by friends and eventually Moore himself, and when they tell their stories the movie flashes back to the horrors Rose claimed to have experienced. Bruner herself starts to see (or imagine) some strange happenings.

This is what the marketing of the movie focused on--all the distorted faces and body contortions. It's quite obvious that with the September release date Sony was scared of coming out with this in a primo month, considering that at heart it's a courtrrom drama--a tough sell unless you've got Cruise and Nicholson. But, horror fans will enjoy these moments, because they are pretty creepy. I can see many, though, getting a tad upset when it goes to the Q & A sessions because it's your typical fare there. The defense is interesting, however, because Bruner actually tries to make a legal case for demonic possession when all else fails--a decision that puts her career on the line (of course).

The other good thing about the movie--it tells both sides of the story. You can choose not to believe she was possessed and get a perfectly good argument from the always-winning Campbell Scott. All around, an above-average flick--it will entertain.