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ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - September 9th

"THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE" released in 2005

Loosely based on the real life story of Anneliese Michel, a young German Catholic woman who died in 1976 after unsuccessful attempts to perform an exorcism upon her with psychotropic drugs, The Exorcism of Emily Rose follows Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson) who is put on trial for the negligent homicide of a young woman while performing an exorcism, and the efforts of Father Moore's attorney, the brilliant and agnostic Erin Bruner (Laura Linney), to defend him in a trial that will blur the line between science and the supernatural and force Erin to face her own demons.

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When news of the death of a 19-year-old farm girl named Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter), attributed to self-inflicted wounds and malnutrition, spreads throughout town, the local police arrest Catholic priest Father Richard Moore (Wilkinson) for negligent homicide. The archdiocese, wishing to avoid publicity and scandal, wish Father Moore to plead guilty, though he refuses. A brilliant and ambitious lawyer, Erin Brunner (Linney) takes the case on behalf of the archdiocese, believing a high profile case will elevate her to senior partner at her law firm. Eventually Father Moore agrees to lets Brunner represent him on the single condition he can take the stand and "tell Emily's story". As the trial commences, the prosecution, led by assistant district attorney Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott), counters the defense's claims of the supernatural with  a multitude of witnesses and experts testifying to the medical facts that may have caused similar effects. As trial progresses, the story of Emily Rose is slowly revealed. After accepting a university scholarship, Emily begins to witness strange phenomenons, each one always occurring at 3AM; she notices a strong smell of sulfur in the air, door opening and shutting by themselves, and small objects moving by themselves. One night, Emily is violently pinned down on her bed by an unseen force, chocking her and momentarily possessing her. Emily, raised Catholic, cannot tell if the events actually happened or she was hallucinating. She suffers more of these visions such as people's faces demonically distorting, and being unable to eat until she is hospitalized and diagnosed with epilepsy (possibly in conjuncture with psychosis). When the anti-seizure medications and treatments fail to cure her, her boyfriend Jason (Joshua Close) brings her home after finding her contorted and catatonic. Once there, Emily's family become convinced she is not epileptic or mentally ill but is possessed by demons and call on father Moore for help. Returning to the trial, Father Moore warns Erin that despite her agnostic views, she is now in danger from the "dark forces" surrounding the case. In fact, Erin has an encounter in her apartment at exactly 3AM that night. Shaken by the experience, and with the added pressure from her firm that they will fire her if she continues, Erin finally calls on Father Moore to testify where he begins his versions of events - where on Halloween night, Father Moore performed the exorcism on Emily, the aid of her father Nathaniel (Andrew Wheeler), Jason, and a medical doctor Dr. Graham Cartwright (Duncan Fraser), and may (or may not) have encountered a demon that has corrupted the souls of Man since the time of Cain!

Father Moore: Tell me your six names!
Emily Rose: [possessed] We are the ones who dwell within.
Emily Rose: [in Hebrew] I am the one who dwelt within CAIN!
Emily Rose: [in Latin] I am the one who dwelt within NERO!
Emily Rose: [in Greek] I once dwelt within JUDAS!
Emily Rose: [in German] I was with Legion!
Emily Rose: [in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic] I am Belial!
Emily Rose: [in English] And I am Lucifer, the Devil in the flesh!

Top:   The demons inside the possessed Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) announce who they are;

Above:   Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson) struggles to free Emily during an exorcism

Co-written by director Scott Derrickson (and loosely based on Felicitas Goodman's book The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel, which details the trial of two priests and Michel's parents who were later found guilty of manslaughter resulting from negligence while performing an exorcism on Anneliese Michel in Germany in 1976), Derrickson chose Paul Harris Boardman as his co-writer because Derrickson saw himself as a believer and Boardman as a skeptic, and believed the pairing would provide the screenplay with two different perspectives, thus providing the film some ambiguity as to whether it supports a religious/supernatural interpretation of the events depicted, or a more secular/medical interpretation. Derrickson later stated that the film Rashomon (1950) was a huge influence on the writing process in that both films have four different witnesses recount the story of a murder in court from their perspectives. As the filmmakers weren't interested in making just another horror movie, they wanted to make a "smart movie about whether demonic possession really exists", they wanted The Exorcism of Emily Rose to make people ask questions, not think they got the answer.

Cast in the role of the brilliant and agnostic defense attorney Erin Brunner, Laura Linney was most excited to work with Tom Wilkinson (playing Father Moore), having been an admirer of his for years, and with Campbell Scott (as assistant district attorney Ethan Thomas) as the two had worked previously on Lush (1999). It was in fact Linney who recommended Jennifer Carpenter for the role of Emily Rose after working with her in a play. Linney described Carpenter as the "best young actress I've ever seen. She's spectacular." Having already considered Madeline Zima (from TV's The Nanny and Californication) for the part, Derrickson met with Carpenter. Immediately Derrickson was impressed with the young actress, especially with the "silent scream" Carpenter performed in her audition which Derrickson found terrifying! To prepare for her role, Carpenter spent hours in a room full of mirrors, trying out different body positions and facial expressions to see what was the scariest.

Father Moore: Emily, can you hear me?
Emily Rose: [in Latin] I am the one who dwells within.
Father Moore: [responding in Latin] And I am the one who comes in His name.
Emily Rose: You think you can force me out, priest? Try. I dare you.
[Emily twitches and falls to the ground]

Top:   Defense attorney Erin Brunner (Laura Linney) may discover more than she wanted taking father Moore's case;

Above:   Assistant District Attorney Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott) shows the jury the aftermath of the "exorcism"

Originally Derrickson planned to use a combination of visual effects and life-cast dolls to simulate Emily's possession. Two dolls were even constructed for the film; the first for where Emily would lock her limbs and the other was during the dorm scene where she is on the floor in a twisted and contorted position. Ultimately the filmmakers never used a doll in the dorm room scene because he found out that Carpenter is double jointed, and decided that the positions she was able to contort herself into were more unsettling than what could be accomplished with the dummy. When Emily starts to bend over backwards in the church however, Carpenter wore a harness to make the effect more inhuman.

In keeping with his aesthetic of leaving the film to the interpretation of the audience, Derrickson did not give the actors playing the jurors a copy of the script, so even they weren't aware of how the case would turn out. During filming, Mary Beth Hurt, who played the presiding Judge Brewster, asked them how they would find Father Moore. The decision was split. In the original screenplay, Duncan Fraser's character, Dr. Graham Cartwright, was supposed to have a heart attack after explaining to Brunner why he is too scared to testify, but the studio wanted his death to be more dramatic. So instead, Derrickson included a scene where Cartwright is killed by a passing car as he is running away from the courthouse.

TRIVIA:   German director Hans-Christian Schmid launched his own treatment of the Anneliese Michel's story, Requiem, around the same time in late 2006.

Top:   Director Scott Derrickson with Jennifer Carpenter;

Above:   Carpenter filming the her final scene

The Exorcism of Emily Rose was a huge success on it's release, grossing over $140 million at the box office, but generally received mixed reviews from critics. As emphasized by Roger Ebert, who described The Exorcism of Emily Rose as "intriguing and perplexing", the film "asks a secular institution, the court, to decide a question that hinges on matters the court cannot have an opinion on". Ebert noted that "the screenplay is intelligent and open to occasional refreshing wit". Paul Arendt from BBC outlined that "the flashback story... is high-octane schlock that occasionally works your nerves, thanks to a committed performance from Jennifer Carpenter".  In 2006, the Chicago Film Critics Association listed the film in their Top 100 Scariest Films Ever Made (appearing at #86) and Jennifer Carpenter, whose "demonic" bodily contortions being (mostly) achieved without the aid of visual effects, won "Best Frightened Performance" at the MTV Movie Awards later the same year. Carpenter would go on to find further fame in Showtime's Dexter, while director Scott Derrickson would later helm another two successful horror films based around the supernatural, Sinister (2012) and Deliver Us from Evil (2014).

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE:   45%

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