At the time of reviewing The Exorcism of Emily Rose in 2017 its really curious to see what exorcism movies have become the past decade. Excluding a couple of handful of 1990's religion-driven horror movies, there weren't any shocking exorcism scenes like there was in The Exorcist. The possession sub-genre changed when The Exorcism of Emily Rose, along with a couple of Exorcist prequels, hit theatres and really spurred a flurry of possession related movies. The film is also a trendsetter by the fact this it used jump-scares at unexpected moments, which has become a very popular ploy for filmmakers.
Jennifer Carpenter being twisted up like a pretzel was still unsettling to watch even after all these years. Carpenter as Emily Rose did a terrific job playing the distressed young woman helpless to the demos possessing her. Veteran actor Tom Wilkinson plays Father Moore, a unique role for him, but he also succeeds in making the film better as well as the main lead Laura Linney who did put together a solid performance as the ambitious, tough as nails lawyer. The film did slow down in some of the court scenes and there are some eye-rolling pieces of dialogue and plot-points but the problems were sporadic. The Exorcism of Emily Rose is an enjoyable movie, still creepy in parts, and its really a shame that more critics didn't get around to seeing how suspenseful and interesting the film was.
Review of The Exorcism of Emily Rose
