I recently watched this film, and my thoughts are mixed.

I'm all for exorcism. Heck, it's a great theme for a film. However, I found Emily a bit ... shall we say ... schizophrenic? Ha-ha.

What we have are two potentially decent films crammed into one. I realize this is based upon "actual" events, though I've not read any about the original case to know how closely it tracks allegedly genuine events.

But the filmmakers realized that they needed to tow a very distinct line -- make a movie that will appeal to fans of The Exorcist, while attracting the CSI/Law & Order crowd with the forensic/medical/legal portions of the film.

The film largely succeeds in being compelling for the first hour, but I found myself increasingly less enthralled as the filmmakers attempted to throw in just enough potential supernaturalism to make the viewer wonder if it might be all true. Again, I don't know what happened in the actual case, but in the film incarnation it all felt fairly forced, at least to me.

Spoilers follow, so please skip the next bit if you have not seen the film.

SPOILERS:

I knew, for example, that the physician would die. Even if that didn't actually happen in real life, it had to happen cinematically to prove that there were, indeed, Dark Forces of ... er ... Darkness at work. The 3 a.m. thing is an old trope, and again even if it happened Just That Way in the actual case, felt like too much of a knowing nod to be scary in any manner.

Most disturbing to me, from both a theological and story-based perspective, was the attempted justification by those involved in Emily's side of things to somehow sanctify the torment she received, whether through mental illness or actual demonic possession. Mother Mary appears to her and , instead of crooning Beatlesesque words o' comfort, says that she can have the torment stop by dying. Aaaw. But if she REALLY loves Jesus, she can stick around, be possessed, die horribly and be an inspiration for the world.

Ick.

I'm supposed to be comforted that the-girl-upon-whom-Emily-was-based's grave is now some sort of Shrine Unto the Faithful. This is, to me, not comforting. Horror films are by definition not comforting, but somehow this one is trying to be. Again, I know -- based on real events, and if it's what happened, it's what happened. But I felt somehow wrong about the whole thing once the film was at its end.

It' s a good movie, far better than what is typically released in the genre. The characters are good, the courtroom drama feels fairly realistic, and the exorcism scenes, being ripped right out of typical examples of the genre, will appeal to fans of such. But overall, I found myself disquieted by the film, although perhaps for not the reasons the directors intended.

Brian