This exorcism has one for the head
The Exorcism of Emily Rose OOO Starring Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott and Jennifer Carpenter. Directed by Scott Derrickson. 110 minutes. At major theatres. PG The Exorcism of Emily Rose begins with an unhappy ending: a priest, a cop and a doctor all admit they’ve lost the battle to save the life of a young girl.
It’s the first sign that this isn’t your average movie about demonic possession. More typical is a narrative arc like The Exorcist and its many imitators, where the satanic showdown is left for the climax.
This time, we’re asked to do much more than just watch the furniture fly and the bile spew ( although there is plenty of that) and to be scared out of our wits ( you just might be). Presented as a courtroom drama by director Scott Derrickson, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Paul Harris Boardman (both hail from the Hellraiser franchise), the movie could be called a thinking person’s horror film.
It asks us to seriously consider that there are more things in heaven and earth than our scientists know.
It also asks the question so rarely posed by movies like these, probably because of the difficult religious implications: Why would a loving God allow evil to exist, if He has the power to crush it?
Cast principals Tom Wilkinson, Laura Linney and Campbell Scott will have reason to look back on this picture and be happy that they made it. Relative newcomer Jennifer Carpenter, who plays the unhappily inhabited Emily, can look forward to brighter offers to come, on the strength of a very convincing performance here. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
is reportedly based on a true story — aren’t they all? — about a young German girl who in the 1970s died during a protracted exorcism rite. The story has been transplanted to America and into a courtroom, where it plays more like an inquest. It turns on the actions of Fr. Richard Moore, the priest played by Tom Wilkinson, who unsuccessfully attempted to oust the demon he was convinced inhabited Emily, a 19year- old college student from a poor Catholic family.
Emily was inexplicably stricken with what doctors called a psychotic variant of epilepsy. When drugs failed to halt her terrifying visions and involuntary movements and ravings, Father Richard stepped in to administer spiritual help, with the blessing of her family. He was later charged with having caused her death.
Linney plays Erin Bruner, the unsentimental and agnostic defender of Fr. Moore, whose case she takes on after pressure from her law firm’s senior partner ( Colm Feore). If you remember Linney’s feisty work in Primal Fear, playing opposite Richard Gere’s arrogant attorney, you’ll know what she’s up to here. But she’s no less impressive for the repetition, which requires her to confront her worst fears and to acknowledge beliefs she never knew she had.
Opposing her at the bench is assistant District Attorney Ethan Thomas ( an almost unrecognizable Campbell Scott), who professes to be a devout Christian, but who seems to have a lot of trouble believing in Satan. The numerous courtroom scenes, where Emily’s last days and hours are recounted, are saved from monotony by a superb script delivered by smart actors. Director Derrickson has a flair for courtroom drama, and he reveals the details of Emily’s possession in well- timed jolts. The use of special effects is equally smart. There are few of them, the major ones being the Scream ghoul faces that melt into Emily’s vision during periods of delirium. What we imagine in our heads is far worse than anything we could see on the screen. And this is a horror movie, for once, which really wants us to use our heads. ONLINE UPDATES
For more on The Exorcism of Emily Rose, go to www. thestar.com/movies