The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) |
|
The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) |
|
|
| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Horror |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Dolby Digital Trailer Audio Commentary-Director Featurette-Genesis Of The Story Featurette-Casting The Movie Featurette-Visual Design Deleted Scenes-With Optional Director's Commentary Trailer-Into The Blue, Mirror Mask, Stealth, The Fog |
|
| Rating |
|
||
| Year Of Production | 2005 | ||
| Running Time | 117:11 (Case: 116) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (88:47) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4,5 | Directed By | Scott Derrickson |
|
Studio
Distributor |
 Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
Laura Linney Tom Wilkinson Campbell Scott Jennifer Carpenter Colm Feore Joshua Close Kenneth Welsh Duncan Fraser JR Bourne Mary Beth Hurt Henry Czerny Shohreh Aghdashloo Steve Archer |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | $39.95 | Music | Christopher Young |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
|
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
||
| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English Italian Dutch Hindi English for the Hearing Impaired Italian Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on the true story of Anneliese Michel, a young German woman who died in 1976 following a series of exorcisms. In this Americanised version of events Anneliese Michel is replaced by 19 year-old Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) and the setting has been moved to rural America.
The opening scene shows the arrival of the medical examiner (Terance Kelly) at the Rose’s isolated farmhouse. There are numerous people already inside so he must step past police officers and a priest as he makes his way to Emily’s bedroom. Perhaps it is Emily’s bruised and battered body that gives the game away, but the medical examiner emerges to announce that he is not convinced Emily died from natural causes. Ultimately, the family priest, Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson), is charged with negligent homicide as a result of performing an exorcism that went wrong.
The DA’s Office appoints a devout Methodist, Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott), to act as prosecutor, while the company hired to defend Father Moore chooses the agnostic Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) to act on his behalf. This sets up the great irony of the story. While the deeply religious Ethan Thomas argues that Father Moore contributed to Emily’s death by convincing her to end her medical treatment, the agnostic Erin Bruner poses the possibility that Emily was truly possessed and that this is why she died.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose does not follow the usual horror movie formula. Instead, we find courtroom drama craftily melded with horror. Before reviewing the movie I was sceptical that this approach would work, but in fact it works quite well. Scott Derrickson has succeeded in producing an original movie that is both entertaining and very scary.
The acting is first rate and sits well above the norm when it comes to the horror genre.
Ultimately the movie challenges the viewer to examine the evidence and decide what really happened to Emily Rose. In the process it will challenge your beliefs and force you to consider both possibilities. If demons are real, does this also mean God exists? If Emily was suffering from schizophrenic psychosis, does it mean Father Moore is guilty of negligent homicide?
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced.
The transfer is sharp and the numerous low light scenes exhibit good shadow detail. There is no low level noise.
An intentionally muted colour palette is used throughout the movie to good effect. The drab interiors of the courtroom, the prison cell and the farmhouse all serve to add to the atmosphere of suspense.
Apart from mild posterization during some of the low light scenes, like the prison cell wall at 67:11, there are no MPEG artefacts. A small amount of grain is evident in some of the darker scenes, but this is being picky. There are no film artefacts.
The available subtitle streams include English, Italian, Dutch, Hindi, English for the Hearing Impaired, Italian Audio Commentary and Dutch Audio Commentary. The subtitles are well placed, easy to read and accurately reflect the spoken word. On a similar note, the epilogue text is very small and may prove difficult to read on smaller screens.
This is an RSDL disc with the layer change occurring at 88:47. The layer change goes unnoticed as it occurs when the camera is fixed on a newspaper article.
| Sharpness |   |
| Shadow Detail | |
| Colour | |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
The audio transfer is excellent.
There are three audio tracks on this DVD, the default English Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 and an English Dolby Digital 2.0 Audio Commentary track. I listened to both English soundtracks.
The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand, with forced subtitles appearing whenever there are demonic voices speaking in Aramaic, or some other unfamiliar language. I did not notice any audio sync problems with this disc.
The musical score by Christopher Young creates a real atmosphere of suspense and is sure to keep viewers sitting on the edge of their seats.
The surround channels are aggressively used for directional queues and general ambience.
This is a very robust audio track that you feel as well as hear. The subwoofer is used to good effect without being overpowering.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
| Subwoofer | |
| Overall | |
The animated menu is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and it is 16x9 enhanced. The menu is accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.
The menu follows the usual anti-piracy ads that, thankfully, can be skipped through. What is annoying, though, is the appearance of more copyright warnings after Play is selected.
Director/Writer Scott Derrickson provides an intelligent and informative commentary that is superior to most.
There are three featurettes on offer and each is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, though they all include some non-enhanced 2.35:1 material taken from the movie. All are accompanied by an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Italian and Dutch subtitles are also included.
Director/Writer Scott Derrickson and Writer/Producer Paul Harris Boardman discuss their early involvement with The Exorcism of Emily Rose. In addition to reading 2000 books on the subject, they reviewed numerous audio and video tapes to ensure the on screen exorcism was as real as possible. They even interviewed people who had actually performed exorcisms.
Scott Derrickson and Paul Harris Boardman explain that Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment had already given the green light for production before they had had a chance to start the casting process. This placed them in a position of being able to use quality drama actors, which ultimately propels the movie to the next level, offering far more than your average horror movie.
Production Designer David Brisbin talks about the decision to use a compressed colour palette, as well as the use of colours to represent different zones of the story. For example orange is used to depict terror. Meanwhile, Costume Designer Tish Monaghan discusses the intentional blending of 70s, 80s and 90s fashion to create a movie with a timeless quality.
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced, and accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Director Scott Derrickson explains that these two scenes were dropped because they were considered "cheesy". The deleted scenes would have further expanded upon the character of Erin Bruner, but it is quite obvious why they were cut.
Theatrical Trailers for Into The Blue, Mirror Mask, Stealth and The Fog.
There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
Theatrical Trailers for Sueno, The Gospel, Boogeyman, Open Season, The Cave, The Da Vinci Code, The Grudge, The Pink Panther (2005), The Amityville Horror, The Amityville Horror (2005).
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;
Italian Dolby Digital 5.1
Theatrical Trailer for Stealth.
The Region 1 and Region 4 versions can be considered equal, unless you speak Italian.
The video transfer is excellent.
The audio transfer is excellent.
The main feature is accompanied by some quality extras on this well rounded DVD.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-533K, using Component output |
| Display | InFocus Screenplay 7200 with ScreenTechnics 100" (16x9) screen. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to Amplifier. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Denon AVC -A11SR |
| Speakers | Jamo D6PEX wall mounted Speakers and Powered Sub (7.1) |