Before watching this, I found out it was based on a “true story” about a Catholic girl in Germany in the 1970s. I’m sorry, WHY aren’t we seeing that one? That’s way more scary than some farm girl in “small town modern day America.” Are middle-America Catholics the most pious people in world? Probably not. I’ve met Baptists and Irish grandmothers. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever met another Catholic that doesn’t put their ethnicity before their religion. Like they need to double down on how much they love their mother and their intense guilt.
Obviously I’m not winning anyone over with my theology on this one. My issues with organized religion aside, this film did get one thing very, very right: a Catholic archdiocese will stop at nothing to protect their reputation; even when it was their direction that put everyone in this predicament.
Emily Rose is a young Catholic girl who gets accepted to a nearby university, and against her parents’ hesitation decides to go in order to become a teacher. She’s a pretty, kind, naïve girl. Even without the devil lurking in the bursar’s office, this girl was going to get eaten alive at college no matter what. The possession happens shortly after she decides to go dancing (gasp!) and meets a boy (double gasp!). At first it just seems like Emily developed epilepsy. And perhaps schizophrenia or psychosis. However, her condition gets worse, even under the care of doctors.
It is decided that she will leave college and try to recover at home. Being the pious girl she is, the family allows the local parish priest to counsel her. Honestly, this isn’t a bad idea at the beginning. Many priests are trained to act as social workers and offer guidance. But of course, this is Halloween, not Arbor Day, so we’re about to deal with demons. Multiples. At least 6, which VERY impressive resumes.
The priest decides to perform an exorcism which doesn’t work and Emily ends up dying shortly after. The film is about the trial against the priest, after he is accused of negligent homicide. Not really sure why the parents aren’t up on trial, but that’s not “sexy” for horror movie tropes. Please of parents abuse their kids in real life. We need the fantasy of a priest talking to demons in the middle of a corn field, gosh darnit!
A hard hitting (read: heartless) lawyer (played by Laura Linney) is hired by the archdiocese to defend the priest. Even though the archdiocese OK’d the exorcism, they don’t want to look “silly.” Once the lawyer gets involved, she also starts to become affected by the demons. Or carbon monoxide poisoning. Lots of explanations surround hallucinations. At least that’s what I tell myself because I don’t like the idea of the devil sending minions to take up residence in anyone’s house, much less a lady just trying to do her job.
The ending is what it is, but I had a hard time watching this movie. Literally. Every time I tried to stream it, the TV would reboot or I lost audio or the subtitles glitched on the screen. I’m not saying it was supernatural, but whatever devil was hanging out in my house that day and refused to let my toddler take his afternoon nap: I’ll see you in hell.
Scare Rating: 7 out of 10 ghosts
Lower It Up 