Review of The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) by Rob M — 05 Jan 2011

The lawyering/courtroom part was horrible. I think that using a trial of an exorcist as the setting is unique, but I don't know why the writers went out of their way to make the courtroom/trial parts so bad.

They could have achieved the same amount of drama by just making it right. I suppose a lot of courtroom stuff is really wrong in movies anyway. I thought the scary parts were pretty scary, and I'm not so sure why because nothing really happens.

Maybe that's why it's so scary, because it's just scary music and a feeling of fear that maybe you're making up yourself. I couldn't sleep afterward because my mind just made stuff up.

I think they did a good job at making it unclear as to whether the girl was really possessed or not, although I don't think they did a very good job at making it probably she was possessed; she seemed just pretty mentally unstable and there wasn't anything she really did that was too out of the ordinary.

I also really didn't see the point of showing that you were possessed as somehow being proof of God; if you proved you're possessed it shows that there is some evil thing but it doesn't show there's God, especially when the exorcism doesn't work at all! Some stuff was really stupid though, like the defense attorney and prosecutor meeting at a bar and explaining to each other what their roles at a trial are, the defense attorney not having a case or even dreaming up any witnesses until the middle of the trial, why the priest stayed in jail throughout the trial instead of getting bailed out like he was supposed to, the lawyer woman showing up late to trial with perfect hair and makeup which is a big surprise instead of having called in to say she was late, all the courtroom stuff (Prosecutor: Objection! Judge: On what grounds? Prosecutor: How about silliness?).

Some of it was really predictable, like Emily Rose sees a holy vision, the star witness is going to befall some horrible accident, the ending/what happens to the priest. It was not the best movie, but it wasn't the worst either.