'Emily Rose' meant to be more than scary movie (real life exorcism)

Bluefield Telegraph ^ | September 9, 2005 | Terry Mattingly

[NYer]

NEW YORK - When it comes to real-life exorcisms, movie director Scott Derrickson has read the transcripts and studied stacks of tapes.

He didn't see heads spin 360 degrees or volcanoes of pea-soup vomit. He was, in the end, convinced that demons are real. The results went into "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," a chilling movie that Derrickson hopes will make believers think twice about what they believe and doubters have doubts about their doubts.

"The research phase was horrible," he said during press events preceding the Sept. 9 release of the film. But, he added, "I am glad that I know so much about it. That's good knowledge to have. As a writer, it certainly is. I also feel that for me, as a Christian, it is good to have that knowledge. But I will never do that again."

The movie was inspired by the story of Anneliese Michel, a German college student and devout Catholic who died during exorcism rites in 1976. Doctors said her seizures and visions were caused by epilepsy. Her family was convinced otherwise and their bishop agreed to allow a series of exorcism rites.

The ordeal eventually took her life.

State officials prosecuted the parents and their priests for criminal negligence, leading to a trial that divided skeptics and believers - then and now.

Derrickson and co-writer Paul Harris Boardman moved this story to the American heartland, changing scores of details. The result wraps a horror movie inside a courtroom drama, with Emily's story told in flashbacks. The big question: Is this a story of fatal abuse caused by superstition or an inspiring account of a battle with evil incarnate?

After weeks or terror, Emily writes a letter in which she describes a heavenly vision. In it, the Virgin Mary tells her that she can die peacefully or struggle on, enduring more pain but proving that demonic possession is real. On the witness stand, the family's priest reads this letter and emphasizes this passage: "People say that God is dead. But how can they think that if I show them the devil?"

The movie is light on special effects and heavy on scenes that blur - but do not erase - the lines between faith and science, the natural and the supernatural. "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" is not a film for moviegoers who avoid the sound of creaky wooden floor planks, the scratch of fingernails on plaster walls, the howling of hellish voices in ancient tongues or the crunch of insects between human teeth. Is this insanity or spiritual warfare?

The timing is good for a movie built on spiritual questions, admitted Derrickson. A studio executive read the script and gave it a green light days after the release of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."

The key, said actress Laura Linney, is that the movie doesn't tell "people what to think or to believe." Instead, it shows how people with different beliefs view mysterious events in different ways. The cast and crew included people with a variety of religious beliefs, as well.

Linney plays a doubter who defends the priest. The prosecutor is portrayed as a progressive Christian, a Bible-reading modernist who is repulsed by this encounter with what he considers an ancient, irrational and dangerous form of faith. Similar conflicts are dividing many religious groups today.

The goal, Linney said, was to open up "one of the big mysteries: Where does evil come from? Is it stuff in our brains or is it something outside of ourselves? Some people have very strong opinions about it, one way or the other." She hopes this film "will cause both sides to re-evaluate and to listen to the other side," she said.

In the end, Derrickson said, he hopes moviegoers will dare to ask tough questions about good and evil, God and Satan.

"Right now, there is plenty of amorphous belief out there about God," he said. "Lots of people are saying, 'God is within us. God is a force. God is everything. God is everywhere.' They don't really believe in a God who makes demands, who judges, does things that make us uncomfortable. They're vague about evil, too.

"What we tried to do was make an entertaining movie that scared people. But I also wanted people to stop and think about all of that."

[NYer]

Terry Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) is senior fellow for journalism at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.

[NYer]

"I, Sister Faustina Kowalska, by the order of God, have visited the Abysses of Hell so that I might tell souls about it and testify to its existence...the devils were full of hatred for me, but they had to obey me at the command of God, What I have written is but a pale shadow of the things I saw. But I noticed one thing: That most of the souls there are those who disbelieved that there is a hell."
Sister Faustina's Vision of Hell

Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list

[Rebelbase]

Thanks, but I think I'll pass on this one.

[Slings and Arrows]

When do we get to see "Hillary! Rose"?
---
This-Is-Not-A-Ping-List ping!

[Freepmail me to get on or off this Not-A-Ping-List.]

[Bombardier]

In the end, Derrickson said, he hopes moviegoers will dare to ask tough questions about good and evil, God and Satan.

"Right now, there is plenty of amorphous belief out there about God," he said. "Lots of people are saying, 'God is within us. God is a force. God is everything. God is everywhere.' They don't really believe in a God who makes demands, who judges, does things that make us uncomfortable. They're vague about evil, too.

"What we tried to do was make an entertaining movie that scared people. But I also wanted people to stop and think about all of that."

Wow....a filmmaker who GETS it! I never thought I'd live to see THAT! Thanks for posting this article!

[martin_fierro]

The prosecutor is portrayed as a progressive Christian, a Bible-reading modernist who is repulsed by this encounter with what he considers an ancient, irrational and dangerous form of faith.

He's an Elder over at Our Lady of the Situational Ethic.

[SouthernBoyupNorth]

This Movie is bound to be disturbing to those who teeter on the brink of belief. I have no doubt that demons exist. Nor do I doubt that heaven exists..... I hope this movie makes people Think for once ... but that probably wont happen.

[xsmommy]

this is very heartening to read. just last evening, when the commercial for the movie came on the car radio, i remarked to my teenaged son that it sounded way too scary to me and that i didn't like movies about the devil because he is real and so many movies try to spoof him and make him seem not.

i recall very vividly the sermon from the pulpit when our priest spoke about the movie the Exorcist which had come out back then, and he said that the devil's biggest coup was when people did NOT believe in him.

i am gratified to read that this director gets it, and has the intent to show that he IS real.

[bobdsmith]

Well good luck to this director, but I had hoped that new Dawn of the Dead movie would make people understand that zombies really do exist. Unfortunately not.

[ScreamingFist]

"And I proceeded to where things were chaotic. And I saw something horrible: I saw neither a heaven above nor a firmly founded earth, but a place chaotic and horrible. And there I saw seven stars of the heaven bound together in it, like great mountains, and burning with fire. Then I said: 'For what sin have they been bound, and on what account have they been cast in hither?' Then said Uriel, one of the holy angels who was with me, and was chief over them and said: 'Enoch, why dost thou ask, and why art thou eager for the truth? These are the number of the stars of heaven which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and are bound here till ten thousand years, the time entailed by their sins, are consummated.'"

[orionblamblam]

The previews show what looks like a young woman suffering from schizophrenia.

[dead]

The movie was inspired by the story of Anneliese Michel, a German college student and devout Catholic who died during exorcism rites in 1976. Doctors said her seizures and visions were caused by epilepsy. Her family was convinced otherwise and their bishop agreed to allow a series of exorcism rites. The ordeal eventually took her life.

Is there a reason that every review that looks at a movie from a Christian perspective has to tell me the ending?

[dead]

Well good luck to this director, but I had hoped that new Dawn of the Dead movie would make people understand that zombies really do exist.

I do believe. I do believe. I do. I do. I do.

(My senator’s Frank Lautenberg – how could I not?)

[general_re]

Zombies do exist...

[general_re]

My senator’s Frank Lautenberg – how could I not?

Well, then 14's for you too ;)

[Fatalist]

The movie is actually about the trial that took place after her death, so I imagine you find out early on that she died.

[Pyro7480]

LOL! What movie is that from?

[plain talk]

I'm sorry. Where is that in the Bible?

[dead]

Wow! That's a classic!

[dead]

OK. I hate it when movie reviews tell me the ending. Everybody ruined that Clint Eastwood chick boxing movie for me.

Hopefully this review didn't. It looks like a pretty spooky movie. There are very few legitimately spooky horror movies.