I don’t scare easy. I grew up on ghost stories and cheap slasher nights. But you know what? This movie got under my skin.
I watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose on a rainy Friday. I rented it on Prime Video and used my Sonos Beam. The wind knocked a branch against my window, and I still paused it twice. Not because it’s super gory. It’s not. It’s because it feels close. It feels like a bad dream you could have after a long day.
So, what’s this movie?
It’s half horror, half courtroom drama. Strange mix, right? But it works. A priest is on trial. A young woman, Emily, dies after an exorcism. The lawyer, played by Laura Linney, has to prove the priest isn’t a criminal. While she digs, we see what Emily went through. (For the production specifics—director, cast, and the real case that inspired it—check out the film’s Wikipedia page.)
It’s “based on a true case,” and that line always makes me tense. I was raised Catholic, and I still remember my grandma saying, “Don’t watch this stuff at night.” I did anyway. Of course I did.
For anyone who wants to dig deeper into real-life possession accounts, you can lose a few hours (and maybe some sleep) browsing this unnervingly thorough archive.
The moments that stuck to my ribs
Two scenes still sit in my head like cold soup.
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The dorm room at 3:00 a.m. The clock glows. Emily wakes up and can’t move. You hear the room breathe. Her back arches. The sound mix goes thin, like air is leaving the place. I actually turned down the volume because I felt weird in my own living room.
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The barn exorcism. The priest prays while wind roars outside. Animals freak out. Emily twists in ways I wish I hadn’t seen. No silly CGI. Jennifer Carpenter uses her body, and it looks real. Too real. I gripped a throw pillow like it would do something.
There’s also a hallway bit where faces seem wrong for half a second. Not big scares. Just little needles. It’s PG-13, but it still had me checking my front door.
If maternal spirits freak you out more than demonic ones, give Mama (2013) a spin—its brand of familial haunting left me glancing into the shadows of every corridor.
What worked for me
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Jennifer Carpenter is the movie. Her face, her voice, her body—she sells pain and fear without the usual tricks. I believed her.
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Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson ground it. The courtroom scenes have weight. I like a good “closing argument,” and this one gives you a few.
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The score by Christopher Young is moody but not loud. It creeps. The low notes hum like a bad storm.
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The 3:00 a.m. motif is simple, but it landed. My neighbor’s dog barked at 3:07 that night, and I just stared at the ceiling.
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It takes faith and science and sets them side by side. It doesn’t shout. It lets you squirm.
What bugged me (just a bit)
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The middle act drags (critics seem to agree—the movie currently holds a 46% rating on Rotten Tomatoes).
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The look is very gray and cold. Early 2000s style. It fits the mood, but it can feel flat after a while.
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The jump scares are tame. That’s fine, but a few felt cheap, like someone shaking your chair on purpose.
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The mental health angle needed warmer hands. The film tries to balance both views. Still, it tilts toward the spooky side when the human side could use more time.
A quick, very real side note
I watched this on an LG TV, lights low, bowl of kettle corn nearby. I paused around 2:58 a.m. to check my stove. Was it off? Of course. But fear makes you do little laps around the house. I even unplugged my alarm clock because I didn’t want to see 3:00. Silly? Maybe. But that’s the point. The movie lingers.
Who should hit play
- You like horror that feels grown-up, not gross.
- You enjoy courtroom drama with flashbacks.
- You want a “true case” vibe without a history lecture.
- You liked Sinister or The Black Phone and want to see where the director started.
If you want wall-to-wall chaos, this isn’t it. It’s a slow burn. It pricks you, then makes you wait. For an equally methodical chill—this time wrapped in winter gloom—check out We Are Still Here.
Watch tips from my couch to yours
- Keep the volume up for the whispers and the wind.
- Watch after dark for full effect. But maybe not near 3:00 a.m.
- Subtitles help, especially with the prayers and soft lines.
- Don’t watch alone if you’re already jumpy. I wish I had my cousin there to laugh at me.
If sitting in the dark with only the creaks of your house for company sounds like a recipe for sleeplessness, line up a little real-world distraction: hop over to Backpage—a classifieds hub that lets you quickly find local events, dates, or just someone to scream-through-the-credits with, giving you a human buffer between you and those 3:00 a.m. chills. And if you’re in Rhode Island and prefer keeping things hyper-local, swing by the Providence section at Backpage Providence where you can filter down to nearby movie buddies, late-night coffee meet-ups, or impromptu “tell-me-I’m-not-haunted” hangouts without wading through listings from three towns over.
The gist, plain and simple
- Strong acting. Real body horror, no silly effects.
- Some slow patches in court scenes.
- Sound and music do a lot of the heavy lifting.
- Scary without being gross. It crawls under your skin.
Final take
I went in thinking, “I’m fine. I’ve seen worse.” I wasn’t fine. I slept with a hallway light on, and yes, I judged myself. The Exorcism of Emily Rose isn’t loud horror. It’s a careful one. It pins you with quiet hands.
Score: 4 out of 5. Not perfect, but it stuck with me. And now I keep my phone face down at night—because I don’t need to see that time glowing back at me.