Hammerblog

Had a chance to see The Exorcism of Emily Rose last Sunday night, which might not seem like a big deal—but when you have two small kids, going to a movie that doesn’t feature Barney or the Wiggles or some animatronic character from the depths of merchandising hell represents a watershed moment in your adult life. I made the most of the occasion by picking a pretty scary flick, and was not disappointed in the least.

That’s high praise, considering that the vast majority of Satan Cinema^TM really sucks. Most of these films have a nasty habit of jumping the rails near the end, turning into nonsensical drivel—as if the script just ran out of gas and forced the director to wing it. Emily Rose, refreshingly, keeps a firm grip on its story throughout, presenting matters of faith in an insightful way, and never leads the audience one way or the other. Like the jury in the film, we’re left to decide for ourselves what we think really happened—and we’re treated to some good scares along the way.

The film is inspired by a true story, though some obvious dramatic license was taken to ramp up the horror elements. And I gotta tell ya, those sequences work very well. You won’t find heavy makeup effects or split-pea soup here, but the camera work and sound effects somehow make the exorcism even more disturbing—maybe because everything on the surface appears so ordinary. The idea that evil can penetrate that world with such ferocity is the most frightening thought of all.

Joe Bob says check it out.