The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
(PG-13) 119 mins

Okay, given the title, I’ll give you three guesses as to which classic this film tries to emulate. And the first two don’t count. Did you guess ‘The Exorcist?’ Well you’d be wrong. The answer is ‘A Few Good Men’. Okay, not really. But it isn’t far off. ‘Emily Rose’ basically combines a creepy demon movie with a courtroom drama. It’s an interesting combination, and I’m not gonna say it doesn’t get disingenuous at times, but it isn’t all that bad.

What bugs me most about the film is its attempts to appeal to a conservative audience. True, it’s mostly conservatives who are the ones who believe in demon possession, but they alienated a lot of scientific minded audience members by portraying the prosecution (who won the case, mind you) as high-minded and condescending. I also wasn’t a big fan of the ending, which seemed to try to put a positive spin on an apparent negative outcome. All in all, there are creepier films to watch and there are better courtroom dramas to watch. ‘Emily Rose’ pretty much gives the clichés of both.

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