The Exorcism of Emily Rose
—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Soundtrack
—7. Posters
—8. Production Notes
—9. Spiritual Connections
If I were like most people reviewing The Exorcism of Emily Rose, I would compare it to other horror films. The problem is, for the most part, I have not seen them. I have avoided them at all costs. And, had I not been given the opportunity to attend the press junket for The Exorcism of Emily Rose, I probably would have avoided this one as well.
It isn’t that I have anything against horror movies. In fact, I have a great respect for the way horror films are able to convey some of the deepest messages about good and evil within all cinema. My problem is, horror movies scare me, and I don’t like to be scared. Imagine my surprise when I finally watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose and was able to return to an empty hotel room in strange city and easily sleep through the night.
It wasn’t that the movie didn’t scare me. Just ask anyone sitting near me during the movie. So the questions was—Why wasn’t I still scared after the movie ended? And the answer I found that made the most sense to me—Even at the beginning of the movie, the true terror was actually over with already, and as I saw it, its opponent had clearly won.
If you didn’t figure it out from previews, Emily Rose is dead when the movie begins. The movie itself is framed by the trial of a priest accused of her negligent homicide. Most of the scenes in the preview that scared me so much—flashbacks and remembrances of witness testifying about Emily’s “condition.�
Framed by a trial, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is immediately set apart from almost every other horror film that has been made. In fact, it is probably the only courtroom horror film ever made. From this minor setting difference, however, comes a unique twist on the “exorcism movie�—instead of showing us demons and spiritual attacks as an unquestioned reality, the movie and its characters take that assumed reality and question whether the demons Emily faced were actually spiritual at all.
For most people, this debate is what truly sets The Exorcism of Emily Rose apart. With one side arguing for a logical/scientific explanation of Emily’s “problems� and the other arguing for a spiritual explanation, we, as viewers, are not buckled in for a ride. Instead, we are pulled into an intellectual and moral dilemma that leads us not only to ponder the questions of Emily’s death, but the bigger questions it asks about life itself. Are there spirits? Is there a Devil? And is there a God?
Unlike many horror films, the horror we see Emily endure is excruciatingly realistic. Jennifer Carpenter (Emily) actually performs almost every physical stunt and voice completely on her own, and because of this, both options for her suffering remain believable. Portraying Emily’s suffering from many points of view, however, the filmmakers also make great use of colors and artistry to give a more demonic feel to some scenes and a more scientific and logical feel to others.
With its structure, its script, and its artistry, this film did an amazing job of making me think about possibilities. In the end, however, the conclusion I came to is that whether Emily’s problem was purely medical or purely spiritual, I believe she was most definitely dealing with demons.
As Father Moore says to his attorney Erin Bruner, “Demons exist whether you believe it or not.� Beyond just that, this movie left me thinking that demons exist whether they look like spiritual forces or not. In most of our lives we call them “personal demons� or struggles. As Laura Linney (Brunner) says, “regardless of who you are and what your religious affiliation is…every person has personal demons, everybody, everybody, everybody…�
Are these demons always evils spirits attacking us? I don’t know. But what I do know is that they take control of us and of our lives. They can torture us and certainly steer us off the path that we know we should be on. Maybe they are medical, maybe psychological, maybe spiritual, and maybe they are a mixture. At the end of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, however, the movie left me not thinking about the torture these demons inflicted upon Emily, but rather the end that they actually met.
The movie is filled with scenes of Emily’s heart wrenching suffering. The whole time we watch, however, Emily is already dead. Maybe medicines didn’t work, maybe the exorcism didn’t either. But regardless of why they did not, in the end, she is released from whatever tormented her, and I believe in a better place.
Bruner also deals with her own demons throughout the movie. She is lonely. She is stressed. She drinks too much. And what she does for a living is starting to weigh her down with guilt. Then this case comes into her life. She is not sure what she actually believes about it, but in the end, a locket she “coincidentally� finds gives her security and she is able to let go of the life that weighed her down.
Even Emily’s boyfriend Jason would not trade in knowing Emily to avoid witnessing the torture she went through. “She [Emily] woke me up to things I couldn’t feel before,� says Jason. “I never knew how dead I was before I met her.�
At the end of the trial as a verdict is given and a sentence handed down, the judge utters one of the lines that is still going through my head, “You are guilty Father Moore and you are free to go.�
In this life, there are so many things that can control us. They can hit us on many levels—physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. Whatever they are, they throw us off course, make life more difficult to lead, and in one way or another, keep us from leading the life we should.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is about these things that control us. At the same time, the movie that I watched was just as much about deliverance from these very horrors. It may be through medicine, through other people, through events, through so-called coincidences, through almost anything. Whatever its form, however, the deliverance I saw in The Exorcism of Emily Rose was hard to see as anything but a part of something bigger.
As Bruner say to the court in her closing statement: “Either there is a God or there is not�…and as I think back to the events of this movie, whatever their cause or whatever their nature, I cannot believe anything but that there is God, and that that God wants nothing more than to deliver us from whatever we face, whatever that deliverance may or may not look like.
—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Soundtrack
—7. Posters
—8. Production Notes
—9. Spiritual Connections
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Soundtrack
—7. Posters
—8. Production Notes
—9. Spiritual Connections
If I were like most people reviewing The Exorcism of Emily Rose, I would compare it to other horror films. The problem is, for the most part, I have not seen them. I have avoided them at all costs. And, had I not been given the opportunity to attend the press junket for The Exorcism of Emily Rose, I probably would have avoided this one as well.It isn’t that I have anything against horror movies. In fact, I have a great respect for the way horror films are able to convey some of the deepest messages about good and evil within all cinema. My problem is, horror movies scare me, and I don’t like to be scared. Imagine my surprise when I finally watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose and was able to return to an empty hotel room in strange city and easily sleep through the night.
It wasn’t that the movie didn’t scare me. Just ask anyone sitting near me during the movie. So the questions was—Why wasn’t I still scared after the movie ended? And the answer I found that made the most sense to me—Even at the beginning of the movie, the true terror was actually over with already, and as I saw it, its opponent had clearly won.
If you didn’t figure it out from previews, Emily Rose is dead when the movie begins. The movie itself is framed by the trial of a priest accused of her negligent homicide. Most of the scenes in the preview that scared me so much—flashbacks and remembrances of witness testifying about Emily’s “condition.�Framed by a trial, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is immediately set apart from almost every other horror film that has been made. In fact, it is probably the only courtroom horror film ever made. From this minor setting difference, however, comes a unique twist on the “exorcism movie�—instead of showing us demons and spiritual attacks as an unquestioned reality, the movie and its characters take that assumed reality and question whether the demons Emily faced were actually spiritual at all.
For most people, this debate is what truly sets The Exorcism of Emily Rose apart. With one side arguing for a logical/scientific explanation of Emily’s “problems� and the other arguing for a spiritual explanation, we, as viewers, are not buckled in for a ride. Instead, we are pulled into an intellectual and moral dilemma that leads us not only to ponder the questions of Emily’s death, but the bigger questions it asks about life itself. Are there spirits? Is there a Devil? And is there a God?Unlike many horror films, the horror we see Emily endure is excruciatingly realistic. Jennifer Carpenter (Emily) actually performs almost every physical stunt and voice completely on her own, and because of this, both options for her suffering remain believable. Portraying Emily’s suffering from many points of view, however, the filmmakers also make great use of colors and artistry to give a more demonic feel to some scenes and a more scientific and logical feel to others.
With its structure, its script, and its artistry, this film did an amazing job of making me think about possibilities. In the end, however, the conclusion I came to is that whether Emily’s problem was purely medical or purely spiritual, I believe she was most definitely dealing with demons.As Father Moore says to his attorney Erin Bruner, “Demons exist whether you believe it or not.� Beyond just that, this movie left me thinking that demons exist whether they look like spiritual forces or not. In most of our lives we call them “personal demons� or struggles. As Laura Linney (Brunner) says, “regardless of who you are and what your religious affiliation is…every person has personal demons, everybody, everybody, everybody…�
Are these demons always evils spirits attacking us? I don’t know. But what I do know is that they take control of us and of our lives. They can torture us and certainly steer us off the path that we know we should be on. Maybe they are medical, maybe psychological, maybe spiritual, and maybe they are a mixture. At the end of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, however, the movie left me not thinking about the torture these demons inflicted upon Emily, but rather the end that they actually met.
The movie is filled with scenes of Emily’s heart wrenching suffering. The whole time we watch, however, Emily is already dead. Maybe medicines didn’t work, maybe the exorcism didn’t either. But regardless of why they did not, in the end, she is released from whatever tormented her, and I believe in a better place.
Bruner also deals with her own demons throughout the movie. She is lonely. She is stressed. She drinks too much. And what she does for a living is starting to weigh her down with guilt. Then this case comes into her life. She is not sure what she actually believes about it, but in the end, a locket she “coincidentally� finds gives her security and she is able to let go of the life that weighed her down.
Even Emily’s boyfriend Jason would not trade in knowing Emily to avoid witnessing the torture she went through. “She [Emily] woke me up to things I couldn’t feel before,� says Jason. “I never knew how dead I was before I met her.�
At the end of the trial as a verdict is given and a sentence handed down, the judge utters one of the lines that is still going through my head, “You are guilty Father Moore and you are free to go.�
In this life, there are so many things that can control us. They can hit us on many levels—physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. Whatever they are, they throw us off course, make life more difficult to lead, and in one way or another, keep us from leading the life we should.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is about these things that control us. At the same time, the movie that I watched was just as much about deliverance from these very horrors. It may be through medicine, through other people, through events, through so-called coincidences, through almost anything. Whatever its form, however, the deliverance I saw in The Exorcism of Emily Rose was hard to see as anything but a part of something bigger.
As Bruner say to the court in her closing statement: “Either there is a God or there is not�…and as I think back to the events of this movie, whatever their cause or whatever their nature, I cannot believe anything but that there is God, and that that God wants nothing more than to deliver us from whatever we face, whatever that deliverance may or may not look like.
—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Soundtrack
—7. Posters
—8. Production Notes
—9. Spiritual Connections
4 Comments:
hey girl! wow, i am actually a little more okay with going to see it. a friend of mine, wants me to see it, but i was a little weirded out cause it is a horror movie like you said.. but knowing she is dead kinda does put me at ease (surprisingly).. are you telling too much of the story by writing that in here?? anyways, if i do go see it, ill let you know what i thought, ill probably post on my xanga too... you should check out my xanga sometime xanga.com/emy_LAUSD. how was the stuff you did in florida/newyork(?) is that right??? im not sure.
let me know what's up.
~emily jane smith
You say it's less scarier because Emily's already dead. I think it's more scarier for the same reason: the opponent did win. The demons won out over good. Is that not more scarier? The demons are out there, they can kill people, and they can beat the efforts of the good guys. Maybe it makes the movie less scary, but it sure as hell makes our day-to-day existence a lot more scary.
I know, common sense tells you—if people die in any movie or story it must be more depressing or scarier. As one friend once told me though, when he looks at life the most exciting thing he’s ever going to do is die. Sure if all you do is live life looking forward to death with a suicidal mindset that’s not good, but if you do believe that this world is bigger than the here and now, if there are really spiritual forces that do torment us, and there really is a God that loves us more than anything, who sacrificed His son so that we could live in Heaven for eternity…death isn’t that bad at all.
Death is hard, especially for family left behind, especially when the person who dies is considered too young. Often times it seems unfair. We feel that, if there is a God He should have just made them better…if we do believe in that God, however, we also have to recognize that in a world that is bigger than just us, death is also a release from whatever torments us as well. If you watch the movie, there is a scene at the end that sort of indicates that this is what happened to Emily.
Yes, the “demonic� forces portrayed in this movie are still disconcerting. It is scary to think of and believe in an evil that is bigger than us. At least for me, however, I find peace in the knowledge that there is a good bigger than that evil. Sure there are times when evil does appear to win, our own free will can make for some bad situations, but there is still some part of me that knows we are in God’s hands. He does want to deliver us from evil. That deliverance may not come in the exact form we want or expect, it may not come exactly when we expect, but I do that God is always there and always bigger than an evil we may encounter. We will still encounter it, the difference with God is how we and those around us deal with it and come out afterwards.
Please read about the lives of the SAITS. Many of the greatest cathlic saint where in fact INFESTED by demons. There has been a great battle going on with HELL and the Holy Sea of people. THEY are the only thing on this EARTH that are standing in there way.
DO the research youself and look at the lives of the saints and then look and study the caticism of the cathlic church.
Jesus came to this earth for all the sinners, th devil and his evil angles prowl about the earth hoping to trap the richeous and keep the sinners addicted to sin.
Here is a start, to learn about Purgatory go to this site:
http://www.michaeljournal.org/simma.htm
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