The Exorcism of Emily Rose

A couple nights ago, I finally saw"The Exorcism of Emily Rose." It's a movie that I'd been interested in seeing, and finally got a chance when it came to the cheap movies and when I found someone else who actually wanted to see it.

I didn't expect much going into it, I was hoping that it would be a little scary, but that's about it. It honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There were a few disturbing/scary scenes, but the majority of them were shown in the previews. It was freaky when the demons would talk, that's always scary, and the most disturbing scene for me was when she does these quick genuflections (I think that's what they're called) where she goes on her knees and pops back up real quick. It's in the previews, but it really is scary.

It felt like something was missing from the movie though. I'm sure whatever the directors had in mind was accomplished, but I would've liked to hear more of the story. They really seemed to focus on the trial of the priest and not as much on the events surrounding Emily Rose. Don't get me wrong though, it is fairly interesting. But they have a possessed girl, five members of her family, a close friend, a priest who performs the exorcism and a doctor who was there, but the main character in the movie is the defense attorney. It seems like they could've picked a different viewpoint of the story or something. But that probably wasn't the point of the movie.

The good thing about the movie is that it raises the controversy of science versus religion. Of course, I'm biased in my Christian background and I believe in demons and possession and all of that, so it was neat to see how these supernatural events were explained. Now, I don't know how many people really believe that possession can be explained as epileptic psychosis or whatever, but obviously if you don't believe in God, you have to explain this stuff somehow. It almost seems like it takes more faith to believe in science than it does to say that there are supernatural beings that exist. Anyways, that was interesting.

The other good thing about the movie is that it reminds me that those things are real. That's a scary thought, and sometimes I'm not sure about how I feel about it all. I believe it, but that's easy to say. I've never had any experience with any of that stuff first hand (demons, angels and whatnot), and I don't know that things would be easier or harder to believe if I did, but often I forget that I do believe in a spiritual battle. It's scary to think that I actually believe there are things out there that can influence me. Heck, as I sit here writing it, I'm not sure I believe it. I wish I knew what my church teaches on all that. Like, how much are we influenced by that? Are certain temptations brought about by my own sin, or is there something whispering in my ear? I don't believe every sin is caused by demons, heck I don't even know if one is. What the heck, I'm confusing myself.

So anyways, the movie was pretty good. They could've made it scarier, but at least it wasn't over-the-top demonic or anything like that. If you've seen it and you actually read this, let me know what you think. I'm too confused to talk about it anymore. Oh and I guess Emily Rose isn't real, but it's based on some girl in Germany named Anneliese Michel. You can google that and read up on it. And the real priests and parents were convicted in her death. I won't ruin the movie by telling you if that preist is convicted. Unless I probably just did by writing that. Oh well, you should've seen it by now. But maybe I put that to trick you into thinking that's what happened.