And you thought your college was a drag on weekends. This is still a product of Hollywood, so you can expect some sensationalism. There are creaking doors, guttural screams and—during the exorcism—glowing eyes. The six demons inside frail Emily speak in Latin and Aramaic (don’t they all?) and identify themselves as one entity: “I am the one who dwells within.” But Emily Rose is not The Exorcist, the 1973 thriller that grossed out millions. In Emily Rose, there are no spinning heads, no projectile vomiting, and no one stabs herself with a crucifix (which is why The Exorcist was rated R and Emily Rose is rated PG-13). This new film neither trivializes nor mocks Christianity, and the horror is much more tasteful, as horror goes. We pity poor Emily when the demons make her scratch walls and contort her body. And throughout the film, which is told in flashbacks during the trial of Father Moore (played by Tom Williamson), we aren’t really sure if Emily was possessed by demons or if she simply suffered from a psychotic epileptic disorder that could have been treated by drugs. This is where Emily Rose works best—in making the audience face the deepest questions about evil. Do demons exist? Can they possess people? Can an exorcist cast them out? The film does not preach. It invites viewers to think. The movie’s main character, defense attorney Erin Bruner (Laura Linney), is a self-professed agnostic who must face her own lack of faith when she agrees to argue Father Moore’s case. She admits she took the job only to further her career, but when the priest warns her of spiritual attack (“There are dark forces surrounding this trial,” he tells her from his jail cell), and she awakens at 3 a.m. to the sounds of invisible intruders, she is tempted to become a believer. The brains behind Emily Rose belong to Christian director Scott Derrickson, who obviously is looking for creative ways to introduce his evangelical faith to secular audiences. He told Response magazine this summer: “My hope is that when people see the movie … they’re going to come away asking themselves what they really believe about demons and the devil and, therefore, God.” It remains to be seen whether getting people to believe in demons will lead them to faith in Jesus. But Derrickson should at least win a gold star for convincing skeptical film executives to finance this blatantly religious film (which has done surprisingly well at the box office, making $52 million so far and beating movies like the critically acclaimed The Constant Gardener). If anything, Emily Rose has paved the way for more of such fare—proving that (1) Christians can produce thoughtful films that aren’t totally cheesy; (2) all Christian films do not have to be about Armageddon or the rapture; and (3) Christian audiences will open their wallets and reward entertainment that is not steeped in profanity, immorality and senseless violence. For those reasons, Emily Rose is a good film. Where it fails, however, is on the theological level. Father Moore uses the name of Jesus to cast the devils out of Emily, but in the end they don’t come out of the girl, leaving us to wonder if the poor priest is either a backslidden wimp or in need of more deliverance training. I’m not banking on a sequel, but I hope the next time Derrickson makes a film about demons, the character who confronts them has enough spiritual backbone to do the job. The Exorcism of Emily Rose, from Screen Gems Inc., is still in theaters. J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma and an award-winning journalist. He writes a column for Charisma Online twice a week. To subscribe to Charisma Online, click here. |
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