The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Karl Hungus

Couldn't really be arsed writing much of a review, but nabbed this on DVD yesterday, after meaning to see if for a while now.

I quite liked it. As many people have noted it's more of a court-room drama with a supernatural element than full-blown horror, but that suits me fine, I look a good bit of court battling, and interestingly enough Laura Linney is starring in the film, who was previously in Primal Fear, easily the best court-room film I've seen.

Anyway, as far as horror scenes went, it was pretty timid, didn't scare me in the least, but it was still an intruiging enough movie and I liked it. Not on par with the Exorcist, but at least it gives an original spin on the idea. Well acted all round, but nothing amazing.

Thoughts?

TerrorFirmer

Not quite what I expected, but at the same time, that's not to be said in a negative way. I didn't find the posession scenes scary as such either but some of them were a bit disturbing, particularly the part where she's eating spiders and I think a few other parts involving unnatural placements of the body that slip the mind, it's been awhile since I saw it.

At the very least, a decent addition to the genre, although I don't think anything will ever truly top the exorcist....solely for that crab walk scene, in my opinion.

c - 13

Same boat here, didnt know what to expect either.

I was fairly dissapointed though, the film was very slow moving (which normally doesnt bother me), however my dissapointment is probably more alligned to the fact that I dislike courtroom drama as opposed the this movie in itself.

Again the horror elements were very weak but I think that this film was aimed at a more mainstream audience than at the standard horror sub genre, hence the courtroom/horror type merging.

Must root it out for another look as I fell asleep before the end the last time I watched it, the only other time that happened to me with was the Blair Witch project.

Agamemnon

I thought it was ok, nothing special. The actress that played Emily Rose did a great job but I didn't think it was particularly scary. I even LOL'd at some scenes, e.g. the priest running down the stairs. Seemed like it couldn't decide if it was a courtroom drama or a horror.

I saw it in the cinema and stayed over in my friend's house that night. The battery had been running down in the alarm clock I bought with me but I didn't notice. The alarm went off at exactly 3 in the morning, the same time the demons attack in the film. I woke up in a strange house expecting to smell burning at any second and feel demons... eh... entering me. :eek:

The film was loosely based on the true story of a German woman who underwent an exorcism in the 70s. The film "Requiem" that's out at the moment is about that case but it takes a more scientific view of the events. It's supposed to be good.

Karl Hungus

agamemnon wrote:

Seemed like it couldn't decide if it was a courtroom drama or a horror.

Why is it, whenever something tries to straddle genres, does the "Couldn't decide" thing always come into play. Why can't it have been a conscious decision to do both, rather than indecision?

Agamemnon

If it was a conscious decision, it did come out somewhat muddled. I thought the courtroom scenes weren't very thought-provoking and the horror wasn't particularly scary (until I woke up at 3 in the morning). A full-blown horror film would have been a better option.

spooky donkey

I never saw the whole film I fell asleep watching it.