the exorcism of emily rose

Director: scott derrickson

Actor: laura linney,tom wilkinson,shohreh aghdashloo,campbell scott

Data Published: Fri Sep 09 2005

Genres: Drama,Horror,Thriller

Key Words: supernatural horror,demonic possession,based on true story,psychotronic film,what happened to epilogue

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404032/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exorcism_of_Emily_Rose

Description: The Exorcism of Emily Rose is a movie starring Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, and Shohreh Aghdashloo. A lawyer takes on a negligent homicide case involving a priest who performed an exorcism on a young girl.

Plot: Emily Rose, a 19-year old American teenager, dies of self-inflicted wounds and malnutrition following an attempted exorcism. Father Richard Moore, the Catholic diocesan priest who attempted the exorcism is arrested and sent to court. While the archdiocese want Moore to plead guilty to minimize the crime’s public attention, Moore instead plans to plead Not Guilty. Erin Bruner, an ambitious lawyer hoping to use the trial to become a senior partner in her law firm, takes on the case. Moore agrees to let her defend him if he can tell the truth behind Emily’s story. During the trial, Emily’s past is told through flashbacks and the evidence provided by witnesses. The trial’s prosecutor is Ethan Thomas, a practicing Methodist, with Judge Brewster presiding. The prosecution claims Emily suffered from epilepsy and psychosis to explain her behaviour. Emily received a scholarship to study for a bachelor's degree, but shortly displayed signs of demonic possession after she began attending classes, experiencing visions and physical contortions. Diagnosed with epilepsy, Emily received anti-seizure medication but the treatment failed to cure her. A friend named Jason took Emily back home to her family, where she continued displaying traits of possession until Moore was summoned to attempt an exorcism. Bruner begins experiencing supernatural phenomena at home, waking up at 3:00 a.m. to the smell of burning material. Moore warns her she may be a target for the demons, revealing he too has experienced similar phenomena on the night he was preparing the exorcism. With the prosecution building a strong case, Bruner steps up her own by trying to legitimise Emily’s possession. She summons anthropologist, Sandira Adani, to testify about the beliefs about spiritual possession from various cultures, but Thomas dismisses her claims as nonsense. Graham Cartwright, a medical doctor who attended the exorcism, gives Bruner a cassette tape on which the exorcism was recorded. Moore is called to the stand where he plays the tape. As seen through a flashback, Moore, Emily’s father, Jason, and Dr. Cartwright participate in the exorcism while her mother and sisters pray in the living room. During the Lord's Prayer, Emily attacks, causing the family cats to become agitated by demonic presence and attack Moore. As Jason and Cartwright help Moore, Emily escapes from her restraints, leaps out of a window, and flees to the family barn. The others give chase, Moore continuing the exorcism and demanding to know the demon’s name. It responds by revealing there are six demons – those who possessed Cain, Nero, and Judas Iscariot, a member of Legion, Belial, and Lucifer himself. The exorcism abruptly ends when the men render aid to Emily's father, injured by runaway horses. Thomas reasons that Emily’s behaviour can be explained by learning ancient languages at school and her epilepsy. Dr. Cartwright agrees to testify to authenticate the exorcism and refute the prosecution's medical case. However, he fails to appear during his allotted time, and Bruner goes looking for him. Seconds after finding Cartwright, the doctor is fatally struck by a car. A distraught Bruner retreats to her office and is warned by her boss that if she allows Moore to testify again, he will fire her. Bruner visits Moore in his jail cell, where he convinces her to allow him to tell the rest of Emily's story despite her boss's threat. The next day, Moore takes the witness stand again, and reads a letter that Emily wrote before she died. A flashback reveals that on the morning after the exorcism, Emily was visited by the Virgin Mary in a field near her house. Offered a choice between ascending to Heaven or remaining to become a martyr but prove the existence of God and demons, Emily chose the latter. Moore explains she then received stigmata on her arms, but Thomas claims she gained the markings from grabbing a barbed wire fence surrounding the Rose family farm. The jury ultimately reach a verdict of guilty, but surprise the court by asking Judge Brewster to give a sentence of time served. Although momentarily shocked by the suggestion, she ultimately accepts it, and Father Moore is free to go. Bruner is offered the position she wanted, but declines. Later, Moore and Bruner pay a visit to Emily's grave wherein the former states that the time will come wherein Emily will be declared a saint.