Exorcism of Emily Rose, The

Aroview: An eerie tale based on true events concerns the supposed demonic possession of a girl (Carpenter) in the 1970s and the trial of a priest (Wilkinson) for her violent death, here given a watchable sheen, big name cast and some excellent jolting frights.

Linney plays a sceptical lawyer who must defend Wilkinson in court and finds herself gaining religious faith; while prior events move in a parallel narrative of the girl's gradual succumbing to the "forces of darkness" and her parent's recourse to priestly intervention. Feverish and troubled, this is hardly a sober look at the underlying issues, but its wintery pallette and compulsory shock moments deliver a classic horror potboiler.

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