The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Ten-word review: Catholic propaganda film stars Laura Linney, the discount Jennifer Aniston.

Though I found The Exorcism of Emily Rose quite scary in parts, I was constantly asking myself how much of that was just manipulation (e.g. by the helter skelter music that precedes each "possession"). While thinking about that, I came across a good article on what makes a scary movie scary:

Michael [Sergi, a lecturer in film and television production at Canberra University] says horror films can be one of two types.

"It will either be suggestive horror, like "Jaws" and Psycho". These films aren't a spectacle. They play on the fears of the audience rather than putting images in their heads."

He says these films often have long, slow, drawn out bits that allow the tension to build up. The other ones are splatter films that rely on the shock impact of blood and guts to frighten their audience.

Of course, all horror movies have some measure of suggestion and splatter. The problem with The Exorcism of Emily Rose is that the proportions are all wrong; there's too much suggestion and not enough splatter. Too much "telling Emily's story" (allegedly true) and not enough demonic soul shredding. Too much of a courtroom procedural* not enough of Hell's rapacious hordes. (At least for me.)

On the good side, the courtroom scenes aptly show both the psychological and the spiritual sides of Emily's "possession." But in the end we're meant to believe the possession was real, and so the psychological explanations of Emily's condition are deliberately undermined in the narrative.

That said, the whole exorcism scene was white-knuckle scary.

* Yeah, so the movie's about the trial of a priest who performed an exorcism on a "possessed" 19-year old girl, Emily Rose. She dies as a result of the exorcism.