Film

The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Name: The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Genre: Crime, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Released: 2005
Cast: Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Jennifer Carpenter, Campbell Scott, Colm Feore

A courtroom thriller built around the trial of a priest accused of negligence in an exorcism that ended in a girl's death. It braids legal procedure with flashbacks to the possession itself, letting both the rational and the supernatural argue their case. Smart, genuinely unsettling, for anyone who likes their horror to come with reasonable doubt.

TMDb rating

3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like courtroom dramas that slowly turn a supernatural claim into a question of evidence, and you don't mind the horror arriving in fits between the legal arguments.

Skip it if you want horror that stays relentlessly scary, since the scares here are sparing and the talk in the courtroom can feel long and static.

What it asks of you: Expect a patient two hours, with long stretches of testimony and argument broken by sudden, sharp returns to the exorcism itself; it rewards close attention more than nerves.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Doubt2008

Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman lock horns over whether a priest abused a student; like Emily Rose, it's a thriller that lives in ambiguity and never quite lets you settle into certainty about who's right.

But The ending deliberately refuses to resolve, which some find intellectually satisfying and others find frustrating.

Spotlight2015

Investigative journalism drama about the Boston Globe uncovering Catholic Church abuse. Same institutional reckoning, but approached through meticulous reporting rather than courtroom theatre—gripping and morally clear.

But It's measured and procedural; there are no jump scares or supernatural ambiguity, just the slow horror of institutional malfeasance.

The Trial of the Chicago 72020

Aaron Sorkin's courtroom drama where the trial itself becomes the spectacle. Propulsive, funny, angry—if you loved the legal machinery of Emily Rose, this cranks it to eleven.

But The dialogue is so rapid and clever it can feel more like a script than real speech. Some find that exhilarating, others exhausting.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Exorcism of Emily Rose

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Devil's Advocate1997

Both explore whether evil is external possession or something already inside us; both use the courtroom or legal system as the arena where that gets adjudicated.

Keanu Reeves as a young lawyer who climbs the ranks under a charismatic boss (Al Pacino). It's possession and corruption wearing a Prada suit—same question as Emily Rose (who/what is corrupting whom?), but filtered through ambition and temptation instead of faith.

But It's absolutely unhinged, with a third act that goes full supernatural melodrama. If you want restraint, this isn't it.

Insidious2011

Modern horror that respects your intelligence. It's genuinely scary without relying on gore, and it has the same quality of dread and the question of what's really happening that Emily Rose nails.

But Once the premise clicks, it becomes more conventional; the second half is stronger on jumps than on the slow-burn creep of the first.

The Sixth Sense1999

A ghost story that's also a character study, anchored by Bruce Willis and a child actor who conveys real psychological damage. Perfectly calibrated between the supernatural and the intimate.

But The ending twist has been meme-quoted to death; even if you haven't seen it, you may know it already.

Primal Fear1996

Richard Gere as a defence lawyer untangling a murder case that's far more complex than it appears. Courtroom procedural with real stakes and a final act that lands hard.

But It's a nineties thriller, so some of the pacing feels languid by modern standards, and one major plot thread plays very differently now.

The Shining1980

Kubrick's masterpiece of psychological and supernatural horror, where you're never quite sure if the hotel is haunted or Jack's mind is fracturing—or both. Endlessly rewatchable.

But It's deliberately ambiguous and slow-burn; some viewers find it glacial or frustrating, and it bears no resemblance to King's novel.

Zodiac2007

Fincher's serial-killer procedural is less about the killer than the obsession of investigation itself. Meticulous, paranoid, and eerily absorbing—another film where truth resists easy answers.

But It's nearly three hours of men in rooms checking facts and following leads. There's minimal action and the ending is deliberately anticlimactic.

Evil Angels1988

Meryl Streep as a woman tried for her baby's death in a case fuelled by prejudice and media hysteria. Tragic and gripping, about how institutions fail the innocent.

But It's heavy and deliberately unglamorous, and the legal system's failure offers no catharsis—only the knowledge that justice wasn't served.

Memories of Murder2003

Both films mistrust easy answers and both suggest that institutional authority (church, police) may be part of the problem rather than the solution.

A South Korean serial-killer procedural where two detectives hunt a killer in a small town. It has the same fractured sense of truth that Emily Rose does—what happened? whom do you believe? Investigation becomes almost hallucinatory.

But It's slow, morally complex, and the ending refuses closure. Non-English language; some find subtitled police procedurals less gripping than dubbed versions.

Under the Skin2014

Both films build horror from uncertainty rather than revelation. Emily Rose asks if Emily was possessed; Under the Skin asks if interpretation itself is futile—they're both about the inadequacy of language to explain the inexplicable.

Jonathan Glazel's sci-fi horror with Scarlett Johansson as an alien predator. Minimal dialogue, maximum dread—it's about trying to interpret something fundamentally unknowable, and whether explanation matters at all.

But It's experimental and visually hypnotic but narratively sparse. Very patient cinema; if you need plot, characters, dialogue, this will feel like punishment.