Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) is a 19-year-old college student who begins displaying bizarre and troubling behavior; as her actions became increasingly destructive and shocking, Emily begins speaking in strange tongues and destroys religious symbols that surrounded her. Emily's parents believe that their daughter has become possessed of the devil, and after frequent appeals, the Catholic Church agrees to authorize an exorcism of the young woman. As Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson) attempts to drive the demons from Emily's body, the girl dies in the midst of the taxing ceremonies, repeated over several months, and Father Moore finds himself charged with negligent homicide, along with her parents. Attorney Erin Brunner (Laura Linney) is hired to represent Father Moore against prosecutors who intend to prove there were concrete medical explanations for Emily's behaviors, including epilepsy and schizophrenia, all leading to a heated courtroom debate between the notions of faith and science. The Exorcism of Emily Rose was inspired by the real-life story of Annaliese Michel, a young woman from Germany who died in 1976 after priests in Wurzburg spent eight months attempting to exorcise demons from her body.

What makes the movie truly frightening and scary is that regardless of your beliefs of possession the movie doesn’t dwell on that but rather the possibility of being possessed. So no matter what your beliefs may be if there is even the slightest hit of doubt of demonic possession the possibility remains that the story could be true. The movie never reveals itself this way either, it leaves it up to you the audience to make the final decision although it does lean one way more than the other. That is why I found the movie scary not because I believe in demonic possession but that I believe there is the possibility of such possession. The fact that the entire story is based on a true story helps as well as it adds realism to the movie. I for one never found the Exorcist that scary, to me it was more a of a fun movie of that era like many horror films. But I did find the Exorcism of Emily Rose scary because of the possibility, in fact on the drive home any little sound made me jumpy. The movie ties the courtroom drama very well with the more horror aspect of the movie as you find yourself enthralled on how the case will end up as well. For those looking for a good modern day horror movie this might be the movie you were looking for, its not like the slasher or gore movie rather its more psychological and leaves a lot up to your imagination.

I don’t know if I was that moved by any of the performances as it was the story that engrossed me so much but none of the actors took anything away from the movie as they all fit their roles pretty well. I believed Tom Wilkinson as the priest who was willing to risk jail to tell the story of a girl he did everything in his power to save. I could see Laura Linney as the somewhat cynical lawyer who finds herself having to defend beliefs that are not her own to help save a good man. And I could see Jennifer Carpenter as the demonically possessed teenager who is frightened and frightening throughout the movie. But none of these performances stood out individually for me but rather as an ensemble as they each added something to the story and only worked together as a group. Even Campbell Scott has something to offer the film as the lawyer who must prosecute another man of religion and adds much of the courtroom drama the movie had. The movie is one of the better recent horror movies as it had many elements that were scary as well as plenty of drama to keep you glued to your seat during the lulls between the frightening moments.

The movie brings up some good points about the separation of church and state. When does it become the government’s responsibility to step in when the church might be over stepping its bounds and not following the law, as they should be. For the most part I think most people believe that the men of god whether they be priests or monks are good men and when they are not that belief can be devastating in stopping them from causing harm. In the movie Father Moore is a good man who does everything in his power to help Emily but this might not always be the case in some exorcisms. When the molestations charges came out against many priests a few years back most of these men who could be deemed evil received nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Law agencies need to make sure they are investigating all sources of law breakers and not just the most obvious ones, just because a man has sworn to serve god does not make him more or less of a man.
4 stars out of 5