If you're hoping for a good, gory, gross-out horror movie with lots of scares, blood and hideous demons running around...well, look elsewhere. However, if you want a quiet, thoughtful, intelligent examination of good, evil and the power of faith, then this movie just might be for you.
Based on the true story of Annelise Michel, a young German girl who died during an exorcism in the 1970s, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a courtroom drama first and a horror movie second. 19 year old Emily Rose is dead, and Father Moore is on trial, accused of having denied the possibly epileptic and psychotic Emily proper medical care in favor of an exorcism. Erin Bruner, an ambitious young lawyer, agrees to defend the Father in exchange for a full partnership in her firm. But as the trial progresses, Erin gets a glimpse into a world of darkness and evil and a glimpse is all it takes to rattle her cage. The story of Emily Rose unfolds in flashback as witnesses for both the prosecution and the defense recall the devout Emily's short and tormented life. Was she indeed an epileptic whom medicine could have saved? Or was Emily touched by god and possessed by demons, destined for sainthood?
There is no projectile pea-soup vomiting in this movie, no swiveling heads and no gore whatsoever. And yet, the atmosphere of this movie is genuinely creepy, filled with a quiet, nerve shattering dread. The performance of Jennifer Carpenter as Emily is outstanding; her bodily contortions and wicked facial expressions are quite disturbing in the few scenes where she is allowed to explode with wrath and violence. But it's the silence in this movie that freaked me out the most: the heavy silences in dark rooms where you know something is moving around with ill intent but you never quite get to see what it is. A few quick glimpses of a black hooded Something are subtle and spooky without being cheesy. Tom Wilkinson as Father Moore is excellent as he always is, playing the priest with a quiet dignity and giving us a very human character who only wants to tell Emily's story and accept his own fate with grace, no matter what it may be. Laura Linney as Erin Bruner does a great job as a focused, no-nonsense business woman who nevertheless learns that she can still be scared of the dark.
All in all, I was really impressed with this quiet, thoughtful tale. Cheap splatter and lame BOO! techniques are cast aside in favor of a serious look at our beliefs and our disbeliefs, and in the end you are left to make up your own mind about Emily. This film still manages to be quite scary in places, but it's a nice, Adult kind of Scary that you don't see too often anymore. This film will probably bore horror fans who are used to splattering guts and screams, but it just may impress those of you who appreciate a plot with a brain.
Very good. And sadly underrated.
Based on the true story of Annelise Michel, a young German girl who died during an exorcism in the 1970s, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a courtroom drama first and a horror movie second. 19 year old Emily Rose is dead, and Father Moore is on trial, accused of having denied the possibly epileptic and psychotic Emily proper medical care in favor of an exorcism. Erin Bruner, an ambitious young lawyer, agrees to defend the Father in exchange for a full partnership in her firm. But as the trial progresses, Erin gets a glimpse into a world of darkness and evil and a glimpse is all it takes to rattle her cage. The story of Emily Rose unfolds in flashback as witnesses for both the prosecution and the defense recall the devout Emily's short and tormented life. Was she indeed an epileptic whom medicine could have saved? Or was Emily touched by god and possessed by demons, destined for sainthood?
There is no projectile pea-soup vomiting in this movie, no swiveling heads and no gore whatsoever. And yet, the atmosphere of this movie is genuinely creepy, filled with a quiet, nerve shattering dread. The performance of Jennifer Carpenter as Emily is outstanding; her bodily contortions and wicked facial expressions are quite disturbing in the few scenes where she is allowed to explode with wrath and violence. But it's the silence in this movie that freaked me out the most: the heavy silences in dark rooms where you know something is moving around with ill intent but you never quite get to see what it is. A few quick glimpses of a black hooded Something are subtle and spooky without being cheesy. Tom Wilkinson as Father Moore is excellent as he always is, playing the priest with a quiet dignity and giving us a very human character who only wants to tell Emily's story and accept his own fate with grace, no matter what it may be. Laura Linney as Erin Bruner does a great job as a focused, no-nonsense business woman who nevertheless learns that she can still be scared of the dark.
All in all, I was really impressed with this quiet, thoughtful tale. Cheap splatter and lame BOO! techniques are cast aside in favor of a serious look at our beliefs and our disbeliefs, and in the end you are left to make up your own mind about Emily. This film still manages to be quite scary in places, but it's a nice, Adult kind of Scary that you don't see too often anymore. This film will probably bore horror fans who are used to splattering guts and screams, but it just may impress those of you who appreciate a plot with a brain.
Very good. And sadly underrated.