moonspinner55 College freshman, a scholarship student living in the campus dorm, dies after being treated for epileptic-like seizures and violent self-inflicted behavior not medically but spiritually, by a priest who believed she was possessed by a demon and who now stands trial for her death. An awful lot of very talented people worked on this baleful freak-show, all to no avail. Written by Scott Derrickson, who also directed, and Paul Harris Boardman, the story is loosely based on an incident that occurred in Germany, but the usual horror movie clichés are intact: a door opening and closing in a storm, 'scary' shots of feet walking down corridors (to heighten suspense), a pencil case moving by itself, squeaky floors in nearly every house, Emily Rose freaking out during a test in the classroom (complete with a stormy sky outside), the unfortunate girl eating spiders (like Renfield in "Dracula"), as well as a defense lawyer who is 17 minutes late to court because a demonic force shut off her electricity! Embarrassingly silly and derivative stuff that an earlier generation would have roundly dismissed as garbage, yet audiences in 2005 went for it. NO STARS from ****

Leofwine_draca It's been a while since we had a good exorcism movie – not counting that rubbishy EXORCIST sequel that came out a few years ago. When I heard about THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE, I thought it sounded good – different enough to be worth a look. When I caught it on TV last night, I knew I'd been right. This takes the true-life case of a failed exorcism and turns it into a gripping John Grisham-style courtroom drama in a very intriguing, thought-provoking way.I'm a big believer in the supernatural and I've studied it a lot in the past. What is presented here is a very believable, very frightening account of demonic possession. I honestly believe that this really happened. Although the film is lengthy and slow-moving, it's never boring and that's because somebody had the great idea of including harrowing flashbacks of the possessed Emily during the courtroom case. It really works, breaking up the courtroom tension, and adding in genuine frights and chills along the way too.The movie is topped off with a fantastic cast working at the top of their game. I don't believe Laura Linney has ever been better than she has here, and her portrayal of a woman with integrity is fine. Tom Wilkinson makes us believe he is the disturbed priest with every drop of sweat that comes from him. As for Jennifer Carpenter, well she should be going places with her portrayal of the tormented Emily here, and I hope she doesn't suffer the same kind of career nosedive as Linda Blair did in the '80s.

Puffer Bluntman The movie doesn't work as a horror movie and it doesn't work as drama. It's just a bland propaganda vignette that rips off the Exorcist a bit, but not too much - so that the Christian crowd who for some reason came to see this "horror" flick wouldn't be freaked out too much, so none of that satanic puke and definitely no mothers sucking cocks in Hell. This movie is 1,5 hours of pandering to the American Baptist prosecution complex. The movie leaves no suspense, no place for doubt, it just states straight away: yes, this is supernatural, no question about it, these guys are right, these are wrong. And portraying lawyers only in the cocktail party setting... my god, could this be any more cringe worthy?

mike48128 Most unusual in that the priest is taken to court because not everyone believes that Emily Rose is possessed and wants the ceremonial rites stopped! A very good, scary movie, almost superior to the "Exorcist Series" which has no connection whatsoever with this film. Not quite as gory or horrific as the original Exorcist, but that might be due to minor cable editing for content and language. Very well done, and definitely worth your time if your horror tastes run to this sort of thing. Supposedly based on a true historical event. Warning! Huge spoilers ahead: It turns out that Emily Rose is the reincarnation of another Satanic-possessed victim from a few centuries ago. Finally, way at the very end, when it is too late, she dies, and Satan wins. It's hard to really like a movie with such a terrible ending!