Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) is young woman of devout Catholic faith and a seemingly normal college student on the outside, but she's got a rather unusual problem - she believes that she is possessed by a demon. Not wanting to spend her life as a tool of the devil, she examines her options and talks to some doctors and experts but it's all to no avail. Soon, her family convinces a local priest, Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson) to perform an exorcism to rid her of the demon that haunts her soul, but sadly she dies while under their care.

As if the guilt of the incident weren't enough, Father Moore is brought in on charges of criminal negligence by prosecuting attorney Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott). These charges attest that he is the one responsible for Emily's death. The only thing he really has on his side is his faith and his attorney, Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) - though she doesn't share his faith and sees things very practically. As the trial unfolds, the story of Emily Rose comes to light through an interesting debate that discusses faith, science, and the logistics of possession and the act of exorcism itself.

Based on the true story of Anneliese Michel who really did die of starvation after an exorcism in the seventies, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose is an intelligent and thought provoking film that hits the right blend of drama, intrigue, intelligent debate, and genuine scares. The comparisons to William Friedkin's The Exorcist are, I suppose, inevitable but director Scott Derrickson (of Hellraiser: Inferno) has crafted a truly unique film that will stick with you for a while long after the end credits have rolled past. The way that the events that take place in the first third of the film are laid out and analyzed in the later two thirds of the movie may not appeal to those looking for a traditional scare-fest full of things that go bump in the night and crazed throat slashing maniacs but it does work in an original and intelligent manner. As the lawyers debate the case, we're pulled into the discussion ourselves and Derrickson wisely allows us to think alongside the lawyers as the case unravels rather than bombard us with the results.

With all the focus on the court room, what about the exorcism itself? Well, it delivers. The first part of the film does play out as a more traditional horror film would, as do the flashback's to Emily's ordeal. They're creepy, atmospheric, and full of strange lighting and imagery. The sound design for these scenes is also quite intense, using the surrounds to build up the effects and the score to maximize the mood. With that in mind, The Exorcism Of Emily Rose is definitely not without it's horror movie elements but to label it as just another clone of Friedkin's film (of which there are many, most of which, quite frankly, kind of suck) is completely unfair. These scenes definitely pack a punch though, and regardless of how you feel about the direction that the film goes in, there's no denying that powerful moments like these punctuate the film very effectively.

Performance wise, we're in very good hands. Tom Wilkinson is excellent as Father Moore. He's completely believable as the priest and does a fine job with the material (though would a priest really say 'The game is on'?). As one would expect, Campbell Scott is also quite good as the prosecuting attorney out to get him - he's quite a bastard in the film and he does a good job of bringing his character's nastiness to the screen. Laura Linney's strengths lie in the way that she shows her character as 'strictly business' and it's the evolution that this character goes through that is half the fun of the story. She's good in the part, but the real star of the show is Jennifer Carpenter who plays Emily herself. Her work in the film is very strong and she's completely and utterly sympathetic and frightening at the same time. The possession scenes work as well as they do not just because of the skillful work done behind the camera, but mainly because of her work in front of it and choosing her for the lead was an expert decision.

While the court room aspect could potentially bore genre fans out looking for a cheap thrill (the look and feel of these scenes is quite dull when compared to the exorcism scenes, and despite the excellent performances they could be misconstrued as boring by those who aren't into legal battles or L.A. Law style entertainment), The Exorcism Of Emily Rose proves to be a very clever film that delivers some scares but more importantly makes you think about your own faith and your own beliefs. A little more background on Emily as a person and a little bit of trimming during some of the lawyer versus lawyer sequences would have helped make it a more enveloping film but as it stands in this unrated version (which restores three minutes of legal footage excised to trim the running time) it is a strong film that deserves the success it has enjoyed thus far.

Video:

The Exorcism Of Emily Rose arrives on Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio courtesy of a 1080p AVC 2.40.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. This film was shot using a very cool color palette and lots of darker colors make up the landscape of the film so it would be unrealistic to expect the movie to really 'pop' in the way that some HD transfers do. That said, this transfer does do a very good job of replicating the look of the film. There's a welcome coat of very fine grain noticeable in a couple of scenes and plenty of detail in the foreground and the background of the picture. There aren't any problems with mpeg compression artifacts though a little bit of slight edge enhancement can be seen in a couple of spots. Skin tones look very lifelike and natural and black levels stay nice and solid. Overall, while this isn't a quite a reference quality transfer, it's certainly a very good one and a noticeable improvement over the standard definition release. A very nice effort on Sony's part.