The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)

(possible spoilers)


There is a tradition with exorcism movies to be advertised as being based on a true story. In our case, however, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is in fact based on a real court case, of a real possesion case, of a real girl: Anneliese Michel. Obviously, the name has been changed, but the story of the movie follows the real case pretty accurately.

The movie is centered around a court case in which a priest is accused of murdering a young girl by performing a series of exorcism rituals on her. Along the way, during the trial, we get glimpses of what happened to Emily through the stories told in the courtroom and try to find out what happened to her and try to answer the main question of the movie: was Emily Rose really demonically possessed? Or was she sick with epilepsy?

During the movie we jump back and forth between the two possibilities.
The side favoring the possession arguments that the noises she was making, the inhuman voices and body contorsions, the foreign languages that she was speaking and had no way of knowing, the way her condition got worse and worse and the traumas that her body suffered can only be explained by the fact that Emily was possessed. Not to mention that to perform an exorcism, the priest needs to have permission from the Catholic Church, permission which is only granted in severe cases. So for the Church to officially recognise her condition and make a rare and very controversial decision of allowing the exorcism, means that there must be something there. They also allowed the taping of the sessions, tapes which later on proved to be essential to the case.

The opposite side argues that the young girl was suffering from epilepsy and mental disorders such as schizophrenia and psychosis, explaining the seizures and violent attacks. And that her troubled condition along with the fact that she wasn't given medication or medical supervision and that she was a victim of a grueling and abusive series of exorcism rituals eventually led to her death.

Even though the movie wants to leave that question unanswered, it is pretty obvious through the depictions of the events that they are pointing towards the demonic possession. There are two main movies based on the tragic case of Anneliese Michel - The Exorcism of Emily Rose and a German movie called "Requiem". Unlike the movie we are talking about now, the German film chooses the opposite side and explores the mental disorders explanation. I recommend watching both movies if you want to get a well rounded view on her case.

As a big fan of exorcism movies, I am very picky when it comes to the acting and the special effects because in movies like this it's very easy to make it look cheap and completely fake. But The Exorcism of Emily Rose gets top grades in all departments.
The acting is spectacular, especially from our leading lady, Jennifer Carpenter (you might know her now as Deb, the serial killer's sister from the Showtime series Dexter) - her dedication to the role and her acting chops have been praised by fans, critics, as well as her fellow cast mates. As a matter of fact, one of her co-stars, Laura Linney says this about her: She's physically capable and she's an athlete, really. This girl is thin and very willowy but she's strong. All that stuff in the film she did on her own and she's also vocally really expert. You cannot scream like that without losing your voice for 14 hours a day. You really have to know what you're doing and you know, I just think she's fantastic. 


Along with the acting, the visual and audio special effects are exquisitely well done - nothing looks fake or overdone, everything is believable, effective and frightening in the best sense of the word. The infamous "6 names" scene, which even freaked out the crew during filming because Jennifer's delivery is so formidable, will absolutely make your blood run cold.

My only criticism is that I wish the movie had more creepy scenes than courtroom ones, but maybe the anticipation of those few but spine-chilling moments, makes the eerie and suspenseful atmosphere of the movie all that more effective.
I recommend this movie wholeheartedly to all horror fans, to everybody who has a strong heart and wants a good scare, and to anybody who wants to see a good movie that will definitely stay with you, make you think and raise a lot of questions about your beliefs.

10/10