The Exorcism of Emily Rose

The Exorcism of Emily Rose never really got a fair shake. Judging by how much money it pulled in, audiences gave a collective shrug. And critics weren't much friendlier: Exorcism scored a measly 46% on Metacritc and a slighly measlier 44% on Rotten Tomatoes. I'm here to tell you that it's better than that.

If you've seen the trailer, you probably identified it as a horror movie. You may have thought to yourself: "Wait, didn't they just make The Exorcist sequel a year ago?" And therein lies the problem. It's not a horror movie, and it's definitely not The Exorcist. It shares a common element (hint: exorcism), but that's really it.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose is actually a courtroom drama with bits of psychological/supernatural thriller spliced in. Taken this way, it's not half bad. It's actually two-thirds good.

Our protagonist is Erin Bruner (Laura Linney), a tough, no-nonsense, agnostic lawyer who signs on to defend Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson), the priest who was charged with negligent homicide after Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) died while under his care. Emily was afflicted with either demon possession or some sort of epileptic schizophrenia; the state's case is that it was the latter and that Father Moore brought about Emily's death by treating it as demon possession. The defense, of course, is aiming to prove--or at least leave some room for the possibility--that demons were in fact plaguing Emily Rose.

Essentially, it's a court case to decide whether or not demons exist. That sounds interesting enough, doesn't it?

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm already interested in this science-and-religion interplay. I work for a magazine called Science & Spirit that deals with that very topic. But I still think that a majority of Americans would be interested in hearing a jury decide on the existence or non-existence of the spirit world. And that is what this movie--based on a true story, by the way--purports to show.

For example, during a testimony about Emily's possession, the movie cuts away to show it actually happening (this is the creepy part). So we get to see, for example, random people's faces turn in to snarling demon faces with black goo coming out the eyes. And Emily's body contorted into extremely strange and seemingly quite uncomfortable positions. And we think, "Goodness, she's demon-possessed!" Then the movie will show us a witness from the prosecution, who, as the movie is showing clips of the possession again, explains how all the horrible things we just saw happen to Emily could actually be the result of mental illness. And we think, "Huh, is it really demon possession?" That back and forth is what makes the movie really neat and really worth watching.

However, as numerous critics have pointed out, Exorcism doesn't give both sides a fair shake. It gives about four fair shakes to the religion side for every one fair shake it gives to the science side, and after awhile it stops giving the science side any shakes at all. But I can understand the filmmakers' choice here. Their goal, in large part, is to freak the audience out, and demons are a lot more freaky when you believe they might exist.

Unfortunately, that choice also hamstrings the movie, making it try to do two things at once. It can either try to freak us out or try to give us an intellectual retelling of the incident (personally, I'd prefer the latter). But since it tries to do both sides at once, neither side can reach its full potential.

But, as I said at the beginning, this was still a good movie. The acting performances are passable if not earth-shattering. Jennifer Carpenter, a relatively unknown quantity, rises to the challenge of playing a demon-possessed girl, while Tom Wilkinson and Laura Linney give us what we've come to expect from Tom Wilkinson and Laura Linney. And it's legitimately creepy--I had trouble sleeping that night, which is the true test--though not as creepy, perhaps, as a straight-up horror movie. It's also legitimately thought-provoking and discussion-inducing, which for me is a mark of a good movie.

It's understandable but unfortunate that the filmmakers decided to play this middle road: A straightforward courtroom drama could have been as good as an 18 in this case, while a pure horror treatment probably would have netted it a 10. Unfortunately, Exorcism isn't as good as the sum of its parts, but it's still good enough to warrant an 8.