I wasn’t sure about watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose because I had heard mixed things about it. Luckily I was warned ahead of time that it was more a courtroom drama than a true horror, otherwise I may have been disappointed. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is about Emily Rose (duh), a girl who is off to college and away for the first time from her overtly religious and somewhat stifling family. She begins to have visions, auditory and olfactory hallucinations, body spasms; you name it, which lead her doctors to believe that she is suffering from epileptic seizures and some psychological disorders. Her medication doesn’t help, and her symptoms get worse, which leads her back home to the help of her family priest. She thinks she is possessed, and her priest and her family decide on an exorcism. She doesn’t live through it, which is where we are at the beginning of the movie. The priest is brought into court and accused of killing Emily Rose. The movie focuses on the trial, and tells Emily’s story in bits as the trial progresses.
The cast is just outstanding in this movie. Laura Linney plays the defense attorney, an agnostic who discovers more about faith than she expected while defending Father Moore (played by Tom Wilkinson, who I have loved ever since seeing him in In the Bedroom). Wilkinson shows Father Moore to be compassionate and selfless, with his true motives out for all to see. Campbell Scott plays Ethan Thomas, prosecuting attorney, picked for the fact that he is a churchgoer, and yet his faith doesn’t allow him to see what Emily Rose stood for or allow for the idea that she might have been possessed at all. Jennifer Carpenter (from Dexter) plays Emily Rose in the flashbacks, and she is very effective in what she is given. She’s scary, tormented, excited, and hopeful; she’s able to fit whatever the part calls for.
Overall, I liked The Exorcism of Emily Rose, but I probably wouldn’t have if I had gone into expecting a big scare fest. It has its moments of creepiness, but it really is more of a drama than a horror movie. It’s a lot like The Exorcist in that way. Sure, there are some creepy, make your skin shiver scenes (think the spiderwalk), but overall it’s giving you a message and making you feel for the characters and their story. Just like your gut clinches for Regan, you hurt for Emily Rose.
Rating: 4 Purrs for a scary movie with real drama and characters
Friday, April 13, 2007
Sunday, April 08, 2007
The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins
Wilkie Collins is a Victorian sensation novelist that I found by chance because of a recommendation from my always wonderful paperback book club. After being out of print for some time, the club had a copy of The Woman in White, one of the more famous of Collins’s work. I snatched it up and enjoyed it so much I picked up a copy of The Haunted Hotel, a well-developed novella of his, plus several others of his work as I can find them.
The Haunted Hotel is a supernatural detective story. The Countess thinks she is being haunted after her husband, Lord Montbarry, dies unexpectedly while they are on their Venice honeymoon. Their marriage was unexpected, as the Lord dropped his fiancée, Agnes, to marry the unknown Countess. Their marriage is one plagued by gossip since the Countess is in constant attendance by her brother, Baron Rivar, who is rumored to not actually be her brother. After the Lord dies, Agnes and the Montbarry family end up in the same place where Lord Montbarry died, and those of his family who stay in his room are haunted by various dreams, visions, and smells. Agnes and Henry (the Lord’s cousin, currently in love with Agnes) are determined to find out the truth behind the supernatural events, and in doing so, end up solving a mystery.
The Haunted Hotel is a nice little supernatural mystery. It’s nowhere as good as The Woman in White, but it’s a nice piece of work from a very good Victorian writer. The plot has a few twists and turns, and the prose is descriptive. The supernatural occurrences are not anything particularly new, but still are spooky enough to give you a few old fashioned Victorian chills.
If you like Victorian ghost stories or mysteries, I’d recommend the longer The Woman in White from Wilkie Collins, but if you are short on time and what to get a glimpse at his style, The Haunted Hotel won’t steer you wrong.
Rating: 4 Purrs
The Haunted Hotel is a supernatural detective story. The Countess thinks she is being haunted after her husband, Lord Montbarry, dies unexpectedly while they are on their Venice honeymoon. Their marriage was unexpected, as the Lord dropped his fiancée, Agnes, to marry the unknown Countess. Their marriage is one plagued by gossip since the Countess is in constant attendance by her brother, Baron Rivar, who is rumored to not actually be her brother. After the Lord dies, Agnes and the Montbarry family end up in the same place where Lord Montbarry died, and those of his family who stay in his room are haunted by various dreams, visions, and smells. Agnes and Henry (the Lord’s cousin, currently in love with Agnes) are determined to find out the truth behind the supernatural events, and in doing so, end up solving a mystery.
The Haunted Hotel is a nice little supernatural mystery. It’s nowhere as good as The Woman in White, but it’s a nice piece of work from a very good Victorian writer. The plot has a few twists and turns, and the prose is descriptive. The supernatural occurrences are not anything particularly new, but still are spooky enough to give you a few old fashioned Victorian chills.
If you like Victorian ghost stories or mysteries, I’d recommend the longer The Woman in White from Wilkie Collins, but if you are short on time and what to get a glimpse at his style, The Haunted Hotel won’t steer you wrong.
Rating: 4 Purrs
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