The Exorcism of Emily Rose, directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Tom Wilkinson, Laura Linney and Jennifer Carpenter, wasn't what I thought it would be. I was expecting a horror movie-alla-Carrie but what I got was a courtroom drama with some horror thrown in for good measure. The courtroom has parish priest Father Moore on trial for negligent homicide in the death of Emily Rose following an exorcism. Linney's character is defending him against, of course, a rightwing holier-than-thou public prosecutor. Told in flashbacks, it shows Emily's initial possession by the demon, her subsequent slide into freakiness, and the exorcism. There's the (yawn) redemptive moment when Emily see the Virgin Mary and decides to accept her lot as possessed for the betterment of mankind ... or some such rubbish like that. I'm sorry, if I'm possessed and the Virgin Mary asks me, 'hey, you wanna come to heaven with me now, or continue to suffer possessed?', I know what I'm saying! We've seen this stuff before and while the courtroom angle approach is promising at the outset, it doesn't make the movie any better in the end.
My rating: 6 out of 10.
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