The Exorcism of Emily Rose – Widescreen Unrated Version

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / 2005 / 122 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: December 20, 2005

Equal parts Inherit the Wind, The Exorcist, and The Verdict, the surprise hit thriller The Exorcism of Emily Rose is smart enough for those who appreciate intelligent fare, and dumb enough for those who don’t. Granted, it’s not an entirely successful balancing act. At its worst, this combo of courtroom thriller and horror film tries to have it both ways. But first time director Scott Derrickson populates his film with three fiercely intelligent leads, who elevate the material past the point at which most films would have just stopped and been satisfied with cheap scares.

The movie begins with the death of its title character. So right there, the mystery’s over. Luckily, there are plenty of other mysteries to replace it. While attending college, 19-year old Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) is invaded by a demonic presence causing horrifying nightmares and forcing her body to contort in grotesque ways. She returns to her family’s rural home where her devout parents insist that medication in not the answer. She’s obviously infested with demons and requires an exorcism. The exorcism, performed by Reverend Moore (Tom Wilkinson), results in Emily’s death. Moore is charged with negligent homicide. The prosecutor is Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott), a Methodist able to sublimate his own religious beliefs in order to find justice for the dead teenager. Moore’s defense is provided by Erin Bruner (Laura Linney), who accepts the job because if she wins, she’ll become a partner in her law firm. So the agnostic must defend the priest, while the Methodist is forced to prosecute him.

The courtroom scenes revolve around numerous tasty moral quandaries. Did Emily suffer from a medical condition that could have been solved by pharmaceuticals? Is Father Moore guilty if he truly believed Emily needed an exorcism and did the best he could be provide one? Can someone be possessed by demons? But the movie is never satisfied with the more thought-provoking aspects of its story. It feels it needs to be a horror movie as well, which is where the film compromises. For instance, Bruner’s clock stops every morning at 3 a.m., leading to scenes of her nervously walking around her apartment, looking for who knows what. Later, with Bruner’s bag of defense tricks empty, a surprise witness drops from the sky. But no sooner is he ready to save the day, than he mysteriously dies in a scene that feels lifted from The Omen. We’re meant to consider that his death, and Erin’s wayward clock, is the work of otherworldly forces. But when your film is rooted in reality, why introduce such credibility-stretching scenes? Why else would her clock stop every single night at the witching hour of 3 a.m.? (Christ is thought to have died at 3 p.m., so the inverse is considered the witching hour?) It’s never explained. But the event proves that the filmmakers believe supernatural forces exist, which therefore undercuts a lengthy court trial to decide the issue.

Emily Rose is very loosely based on a Swedish case involving a woman named Anneliese Michel, who died during an exorcism. In the film, Father Moore describes Emily’s exorcism in flashback during the trial. And the audience is never told what to think. Derrrickson is about as even-handed as one can hope for without creating a documentary. The success of the film is wholly attributable to watching three intelligent actors, Linney, Scott, and Wilkinson, debate the existence of the Devil. Everything else is ballast, filling out the narrative and making it more of a Saturday night popcorn movie. I guess the economics of filmmaking make it necessary for a movie like this to hedge its bets, so we’ll just have to be happy with a comprised final product. I, for one, was satisfied.

The Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Sony’s 2.40:1 offering is pretty fantastic. The color palette is wider than most films of the genre, but the colors are subdued. Blacks are smooth and inky, while shadow detail is excellent. In fact, detail in general is great. I often paused the picture to see if I could read various notebook scribbles or book spines. And I always could. I saw no pixilation or other problems during slow dissolves and transitions that can betray digital artifacts. As someone tired of writing how a DVD features a soft picture, it thrills me to say that Emily Rose has a sharp picture, further absorbing you into the film. The print is spotless. I did catch a smidge of edge halos on less than half-a-dozen occasions, but I dare you to care. There’s also a light layer of grain, but it only added a cinematic quality to the film. A really sharp transfer.

The Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is also aces. Naturally, horror films need kickin’ mixes and Sony has provided one here. The horror scenes feature lots of directional effects and discernable detail. The sharper music stings don’t tear at all, although I wished the bass were more forceful and dense. Dialogue is very well rendered, with courtroom scenes showing the slightest echo. It’s a forceful mix, but it doesn’t overplay its hand, which is a good thing.

There are also English and French subtitles.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

There are two versions of the film available on DVD. One is the theatrical cut, the other is an unrated cut. The unrated cut, which is what I watched, contains about three extra minutes of courtroom material. It’s a bit of a cheat. Calling something an “unrated cut” makes the consumer think the new scenes were too intense or scary for theatrical release. No, it’s just more courtroom stuff. The new version wasn’t submitted to the MPAA for a rating, so it’s unrated.

There’s an audio commentary by director Scott Derrickson. Emily Rose is Derrickson’s first big movie, and while the film isn’t perfect, his intelligence and commitment to filmic details can’t be questioned. He has plenty of time to delve into most aspects of the making of the movie. And in a decision that should earn him a medal, Derrickson declined the “A Film By . . .” credit because it wouldn’t honor his writing partner, who was integral to the creation of the script. Derrickson’s choices in terms of set design and sound give him the opportunity to drop names like Ingmar Bergman. And while Derrickson would gladly admit his film isn’t as good as the worst Bergman film, at least he’s influenced by the right people. A good track.

There is one deleted scene, which deserved to be deleted. It involves Laura Linney’s character meeting a man in a bar and taking him home. In the optional commentary by director Scott Derrickson, he says he cut it for pacing and also because he felt he’d seen these sorts of encounters in too many other movies. The scene is nicely played by Linney, whose character at that moment could use a friend. But ultimately it was unnecessary.

There are three featurettes, which can be played one at a time or all at once. The first is Genesis of the Story, a twenty-minute piece where Derrickson and writer/producer Paul Harris Boardman discuss how they came about the project and the dozens of books they read as research. Laura Linney, Jennifer Carpenter, and Tom Wilkinson chime in with junket-bites of little interest. Still, it’s a good overview of how the film came together.

Casting the Movie begins with Scott Derrickson saying that he never writes with a specific actor in mind, because if they can’t cast that person, the character is forever sullied. The filmmakers decided to cast “up,” meaning to cast actors better than a film like this would normally deserve. Laura Linney admitted that most of these types of film are “god awful,” so she had many meetings with the filmmakers to make sure everyone was on the same page. There’s a little bit of on-set footage, the only time on the DVD we see any behind-the-scenes material.

The last featurette is Visual Design, during which production designer David Brisbin, costume designer Tish Monaghan, visual effects supervisor Michael Shelton, and animatronics designer Terry Sandin talk about their contributions. Derrickson used the works of certain painters as a jumping off point for the color palette. He says that like Italian horror meister Dario Argento, he wasn’t afraid to make horror look beautiful and not just depressing.

Finally, there are trailers for Boogeyman, Into the Blue, Mirrormask, Open Season, Sueno, The Cave, Da Vinci Code, The Fog, The Gospel, The Grudge, The Pink Panther (2005), and both the old and new versions of The Amityville Horror.

Final Thoughts

The Exorcism of Emily Rose tries to mesh two genres, horror film and courtroom drama, into one coherent whole. While the movie can’t quite reconcile the two, it scores big points by taking its subject matter seriously while presenting both sides of the argument with intelligence. Laura Linney, Campbell Scott, and Tom Wilkerson are more than the movie deserves, providing thespian-quality performances. Strip away the high gloss and the horror and you’ve got an above average Law and Order. I acknowledge that, but I still liked the film. The DVD contains a sharp transfer and some solidly average extras.