2005 Horror Movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Horror or Courtroom Drama?

A young girl dies while under the care of a priest. While attending college, Emily believed she became possessed. After medicine doesn't work, she turned to faith. The priest is now on trial for her death. He is represented by a driven lawyer who does not believe in God. This is the story of Emily Rose, told by those in the trial and the priest who watched her through her possession.

I saw this with no idea what to expect. The trailer didn't show much but everyone was excited about. I, being the ever pessimistic viewer with low expectations, didn't expect much. I went into it without expectations and finished it bored into unconsciousness and asking myself, "Where's the exorcist part? Did I miss it??" I didn't like this film too much.

First off, this takes place 90% in a courtroom. It should be renamed "The Trial of Father Moore" because it's mostly about his being accused of not protecting Emily with doctor-prescribed medications and relying on religious beliefs and an exorcism.

This isn't really horror. It's more investigatory in nature with a few flashbacks of Emily's ordeal but the longest being the night of her exorcism and death. And even this is only about five to ten minutes. This is done in an incohesive fashion, skipping around a bit and going back to the courtroom several times. I despise this back and forth filmmaking because it weakens the effect of each part. I'd prefer telling most of Emily's story in one longer piece.

Now, if you expect it to be like "The Exorcist", forget this film. We don't get to see the horrible violence or the images and scenes like that of "The Exorcist". There's no head twists, no pea soup, no creepy eyes, nothing. We just see Emily jumping around on her bed, yelling and speaking Latin. Not very scary. Normally, demonic possessions creeps me out but, here, the Perry Mason bit kept detracting from the exorcism. Courtroom, John Grisham fans might enjoy this more.