hnhovitz I wish the movie poster and the title of this movie had been different, as it limits what the movie is, what to expect, and sets those looking to be scared up for disappointment-unless you're easily spooked. Whether you're an atheist or devoutly religious, whether you do or do not believe in the spiritual or the demonic doesn't matter. This movie is an examination of faith vs. facts, facts vs. possibilities, and whether any of us can make room for reasonable doubt about the good in people. Compelling and with solid acting from start to finish, with its share of unsettling moments. While I did hope for more scares, and while I did predict certain plot elements, it didn't take away from my experience of the movie. If you like police or crime dramas, or better yet, if you believe that maybe it's time to admit that we simply can't and don't know many things for sure, watch this one.

suenoverde The true story this is based on is brutal and the way these filmmakers chose to change it is crass and cruel to people who suffer from physical and mental health issues. I don't understand a culture that thinks that demons could possess a young woman and denying her medical care while using Catholic magic powers would cure her.If you haven't read up on the true story behind the film of the exorcism of Annelise Michel in Germany I highly recommend you look into it and then see if this exorcism needed to be defended. Or any other exorcism done on a mentally ill or "disobedient" young person.Beyond that the film is cliché and dull. It's also not scary at all despite some good acting by the woman who plays Emily Rose. I'm disappointed Laura Linney did this film.

GL84 During the trial for his events, a lawyer tries to help her client, a priest, seek the truth about what happened to the young woman who died under his care while performing an exorcism to cure her of a demonic possession and eventually lets the truth about it be known.This wasn't anywhere as bad as it could've been. The film is really split into two halves here with this one being basically helped greatly by its really good possession and shock scenes. The opening scene that sets her up to becoming possessed is one of it's best sequences, as the long hallway and the unearthly voices floating around give it an unearthly feel while the first scene in the classroom where she sees a demonic face appearing in the window through a cloud of mist and turns around to see a student's face turn into a distorted demon's face giving off an unearthly roar makes it quite shocking. Running out into the rain and seeing more demonic faces give off the same unearthly roar is a bit clichéd, but it still helps to sell the mood while the finale in the church giving this a quite creepy conclusion. The different manners of how she's become afflicted are quite memorable moments with the frenzied bug-eating, speaking in tongues or just contorting her body into such impossible positions that it really becomes obvious something is wrong with her, and the long, suspenseful and chilling exorcism is the film's selling point, coming off with any number of creepy ideas and scenes in such a drawn-out style is one of the best scenes in the film. Otherwise, beyond the shocks and the exorcism, there isn't much else to like about it. Therefore, everything else in it doesn't really work which is only relegated to the courtroom battle drama. It's marketed as being a supernatural possession film, and the best moments come from those scenes, but the fact that the majority of the film is a courtroom battle with the supernatural elements coming in the form of flashbacks is a real misstep and is likely to confuse those coming in expecting the other kind of film. It's not that they're boring or anything, it's just that it's out of nowhere that it becomes that way, and it can be a disappointment. The fact that these are slow and really long don't help matters, extending this out far longer than it should. This could've easily been an hour and a half, or maybe a little longer, but the two hours running time forces it to keep the courtroom antics going for no reason other than to extend the running time. A few extraneous scenes could've been snipped as well, including the introductory scenes at the bar that repeat information we already know and also keep the running time going, and most of the time simply elicit a feeling of wanting to move along and get to the good scenes. These really harm the film.Rated PG-13: Language, Mild Violence and intense demonic and spiritual themes.

Python Hyena The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005): Dir: Scott Derreckson / Cast: Tom Wilkinson, Laura Linney, Campbell Scott, Jennifer Carpenter, Colm Feore: Perhaps the screenwriter should have been checked in for an exorcism as well. Film deals with the trial surrounding Emily's death after an exorcism goes wrong. Tom Wilkinson plays a Priest on trial and Laura Linney plays the lawyer representing him. Starts out well introducing the trial and flashbacks of Emily going to college then it becomes episodic with her strange reactions to spiritual forces. The audience mostly laughed at its idiotic attempt to scare us and involve us in a boring courtroom drama. Director Scott Derrickson does his best using lighting to setup potential suspense but acting is minimal. Linney fares well as the attorney who also feels the spiritual forces inhabiting her life. Unfortunately Wilkinson is surprisingly weak and unconvincing as the Priest. Campbell Scott also stars although it isn't likely that it will be shown on any career achievement. Jennifer Carpenter overact as Emily in a performance that can best described as half paranoid and half constipated. Colm Feore also appears and reminds us that to see him in a great film, one only has to watch the awesome Bon Cop Bad Cop. See The Exorcist for a better example of this sort of spiritual theme and exorcise Emily Rose to the trash bin. Score: 4 ½ / 10