Ronon's Reviews - Independent and Unbiased Reviews
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • News
  • About Us
  • Our Friends
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • News
  • About Us
  • Our Friends
  • Contact

Scott Derrickson's The Exorcism Of Emily Rose

24/2/2017

0 Comments

 

"It has begun, let us pray..."

Picture
Director:
  • Scott Derrickson
Writers:
  • Paul Harris Boardman
  • Scott Derrickson
Cast: 
  • Jennifer Carpenter as Emily Rose
  • Tom Wilkinson as Father Moore 
  • Laura Linney as Erin Bruner
  • Campbell Scott as Ethan Thomas
Length:
  • approx. 111 minutes
Genre:
  • Horror

Written and Directed by Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange, Sinister, Deliver Us From Evil) and loosely based on a true story of an exorcism of a girl in Germany named Anneliese Michel, the American adaptation (Germans made one as well named Requiem (2006) and was more of a psychological drama than possession film) is frightening, captivating and full of jump scares.

PictureThe real life Anneliese Michel
The Exorcism Of Emily Rose is half court room based drama and half horror film and it blends quite well. And you need the break from the horrors that plague Emily Rose because they can, at times, get pretty intense and really messes with your head.

The film is set in America, not Germany, so it's heavily adapted but that doesn't take away from the very interesting story being told. Told through flashbacks, the plot revolves around 19 year old Emily Rose, a college student away from home, who suddenly begins experiencing strange demonic attacks.

When the episodes begin to intensify, she is sent to doctors who diagnose her with epilepsy and is put on medication, but it has no effect. In desperation, her parents send her home from college and turn to their parish priest, Father Moore, for help.

​He believes Emily to be possessed and concludes an exorcism is the only option to save her. Unfortunately, Emily passes away during the ordeal. Father Moore is arrested for negligent homicide and must face court.

Picture
What the film does tremendously well is asks questions. It walks a fine line as to whether Emily was possessed or was sick. It made strong cases for both. It might depend on your beliefs as to whether, as a viewer, she was possessed or not. It's one of those films where it makes the case that Emily was sick but then the next minute had you believing she was under a demonic spell.

Once again, I think it depends on the audience because after each viewing I picked up something different and had me believing different things. Being raised a Catholic, it didn't totally convince me that she was possessed but then on another viewing I was convinced she was – it can be confusing but that's what makes for a good movie.


The demonic possession scenes are frightening. It terrified the hell out of me in the cinema and could barely sleep that night. Particularly when Emily Rose started to see the demon manifest itself on fellow classmates to scare her. The 3am wake up calls that Emily and other characters woke up to didn't help me rest that night and in fact I was roused at 3am and that was it for sleeping that night.

Picture
Performances were impressive by all. Tom Wilkinson as Father Moore was someone you genuinely felt sympathy for, as he was just trying to help the poor girl and the family but it didn't go as planned. It was a natural performance by Tom.

His lawyer Erin Brauer, played by the gorgeous Laura Linney, was a standout. She takes the case to help her career even though she is not religious and is an agnostic. Then there is her opponent Ethan Thomas, played by a very smug Campbell Scott: what's interesting about Ethan Thomas is that he is a Christian but doesn't believe in possession and boy does he show no remorse towards Father Moore. It was played to perfection by Mr Scott, he's an interesting character to watch.

But the most impressive performance was by Jennifer Carpenter, who portrays the possessed Emily Rose with such gusto and throws everything into the role - be it whether she was under demonic influence or losing her mind when being attacked. She deserves special praise.

Overall, it's a good effort into the demonic possession line of films. It's definitely a movie that will make you jump in certain scenes and make you hide under the covers. The Exorcism Of Emily Rose, even 12 years later, is still watchable and still scares me in the same spots.

By no means a great Horror film, it sometimes goes a little overboard and the amount of screaming by Jennifer was a little too much, but it's most definitely a good flick and worth your time.
7/10

Written by Matthew.

Quote: "Demons exist whether you believe in them or not."
​
Follow @@ronon_pheniox
Tweet
Picture
Picture
Ronon's Reviews Merch - Only at REDBUBBLE! Click the photo to check the shop.
US Amazon
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (Unrated Special Edition) by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Aussie Amazon
UK Amazon

Related Reviews:

Picture
Better than most movies about the devil and possession is The Exorcist TV Show that came out last year. Are they working on a second series? I fuckin hope so!
Picture
Linda Blair was the original girl that first scared us for life with the portrait of Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist ended up playing an booze head a couple of years after in Sarah T - Portrait Of A Teenage Alcoholic.
Picture
Possession bonanza in The VVitch: the goat, the brother and surely those twins had to have some demons in them to be so damned annoying
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    Categories

    All
    Action
    Adventure
    AJT's Reviews
    Album
    Album/ EP
    Alternative Metal
    Alt Rock
    Animation
    Awesome Covers
    Book
    Colin's Review
    Comedy
    Crime
    Dan's Reviews
    Deathcore
    Death Metal
    Djent
    Drama
    Electro
    Electronicore
    EP
    Fantasy
    Film Review
    First Person Shooter
    Game
    Gig Review
    Grunge
    Hardcore
    Hard Rock
    Hip Hop/ Rap
    Horror
    Indie
    Interview
    Joint Review
    Mags' Review
    Matthew's Review
    Metal
    Metal Album
    Metalcore
    Music
    Mystery
    Norman Voorhees' Reviews
    Nu Metal
    Pop
    Prog
    Punk
    R&B
    Rock
    Rock Album
    RPG
    RTS
    Sara Mathius' Review
    Sara's Review
    Sci Fi
    Simulation
    Spotlight On
    Superhero
    Survival
    Taz's Review
    There Will Be Spoilers
    Third Person Shooter
    Thrash Metal
    Thriller
    Track Of The Week
    Track Review
    TV Review
    Two Metal Fans
    WTF

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly