On Friday I went to see The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which claims to be based on a true story. Now, I suppose it might be possible to make a movie about exorcism that amounts more than a thinly disguised and badly-supported argument that demonic possession is real, but this movie wasn’t it. (There can’t be a well-supported argument for something that doesn’t exist.) That’s disappointing, since somehow I had gathered from the one or two reviews I had read that it might be slightly better than that.

The problem is that, despite the filmmakers’ effort to be even-handed, and present an alternate explanation of Emily’s episodes as the result of epilepsy and psychosis, the filmmakers themselves are clearly on the side of possession. No one goes to an exorcism movie to see grand mal seizures, psychotic episodes, and so on; they go to see a battle against demons. The movie knows this, so what we get instead of a neutral presentation of the facts of the case and an invitation to make up our own minds, is a series of scenes using moody lighting, visual effects, overpowering shock cuts, a screaming soundtrack, and so forth to sell the idea of possession and exorcism. These scenes are presented in flashback from the trial of the priest who is accused of negligent homicide in her eventual death. The fact that the shock scenes are presented from Emily’s point of view, and therefore might simply be a series of hallucinations, doesn’t change the fact that the horror-movie imagery is a lot more memorable than the tepid courtroom drama. The filmmakers undermine any idea of neutrality further by the silly suggestion that the trial is surrounded by “demonic forces” that trouble the defendant and his attorney, not to mention the mysterious witness who steps forward to aid in the defense, only to die shockingly – shockingly! – before his testimony can be heard.

This very silly film ends with the suggestion that Emily Rose was afflicted with – well, whatever – for the express purpose of serving as an example to the world at large that “the spirit world is real”. In other words, you'd better believe in demons, or else this poor girl's suffering was for nothing. It's exactly the same kind of mind-virus tactic that leads people to forward chain letters and buy insurance they don’t need. If you enjoy well-produced cheap schlock-shock – and I admit the movie worked just fine for me on that level – go ahead and see it. Otherwise, there’s no need.

Update 09/26/05: More here.

Side note: they were playing Merrie Amsterburg’s Season of Rain on the Muzak at Starbuck’s yesterday afternoon. Cool!