Anyone watched Exorcism of Emily Rose yet?
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It's on my 'things to do' list.
Although someone I work with saw it and said you basically get all the scary bits in the trailer anyways. :(
Never trust a trailer it's always a fake, made me think Flightplan was a decent movie but it's a piece of shite really. Probably too predictable and not intensive enough. Just another 'Panic Room' is all you 'bout to get.
NObabe wrote: Never trust a trailer it's always a fake, made me think Flightplan was a decent movie but it's a piece of shite really. Probably too predictable and not intensive enough. Just another 'Panic Room' is all you 'bout to get.
"Flight Plan" was an OK movie. The ending and the "big plan" were very unrealistic. The villains could have done everything more easily and with less risk...
not my cup of tea I'm afraid. I'm a grumpy miserable bastard about movies, and the more they trail the more I avoid it in general :)
Saw it a while back and liked it pretty well, though it tips over into Christian propaganda near the end. Decently scary, though. I've got a review of it being published in Disability Studies Quarterly in the next few months.
No I'd like to. Just got the Exorcist III on dvd at Wal-Mart for $5.50. My problem with these exorcism movies based on reality is that it comes down to Catholism. Need a priest to save the person. Also possession/exorcism may be the only quanafible (sp I'm tired) proof that God exists or at least good and evil exist in a form that makes faith necessary. You never see them asking a Baptist minister or a Jehovah's witness or a Muslim guy to remove a demon from a person, do you?
It's true, you know. If you're not a Catholic, you're apparently not eligible for demonic possession. Instead you're a heathen and they torture and burn you.
I forgot to mention other than Catholics it's the Dominicans and Santa Maria or whatever that voodoo shit is called.
Just a general response to the above; reports of possessions are not unique to the Catholic faith; people of all cultures / faiths have experienced them.
The Catholic ones are the only ones that seem to get mediafied; not sure why...? Maybe because they are the most conservative of faiths and something like an admission of possession / demonic entities is more shocking as a result?
Will buy it for interest value only when it hits the bargain bins as all the reviews are shoddy.
didn't see it in the theatre, but i've downloaded it off limewire as part of my 'to watch while flu-ey' things to do. which means i shall be watching it shortly.
Nope, but judging from the trailers and the reviews it sounds like utter drivel. Is there some sort of trend in Hollywood now for films aimed at believing Christians? (The Mel Gibson bore-fest, the narnia thing, now this?). I guess there's no reason why Christians shouldn't have Hollywood tripe inflicted on them just like the rest of us.
My only interest is whether this film manages to be even worse than the Exorcist (worst film ever made).
Yeah, also I wonder if movies giving credence to the crackpot notion of demonic possession aren't grossly irresponsible, given cases, like the recent one involving that Angolan couple, of children being violently abused because some charlatan decided they were possessed.
404 error wrote: Nope, but judging from the trailers and the reviews it sounds like utter drivel. Is there some sort of trend in Hollywood now for films aimed at believing Christians?
not just films but books, tapes, any kind of entertainment you can think of. the apocalyptic 'left behind' series has sold, what, 200 million copies or so? scary.
There's something wrong with education these days, this business of regressing to more primitive beliefs is scarey. Before long it'll be sunworship and sacrifice.
Steve Campbell wrote: There's something wrong with education these days, this business of regressing to more primitive beliefs is scarey. Before long it'll be sunworship and sacrifice.
not in many parts of america. that would be pagan and un-christian. i believe it was jimmy carter who said that the republicans of the '80s tried to roll back the new deal, while the current crop of republicans are trying to roll back the age of reason and the renaissance.
404 error wrote: Nope, but judging from the trailers and the reviews it sounds like utter drivel. Is there some sort of trend in Hollywood now for films aimed at believing Christians? (The Mel Gibson bore-fest, the narnia thing, now this?). I guess there's no reason why Christians shouldn't have Hollywood tripe inflicted on them just like the rest of us.
My only interest is whether this film manages to be even worse than the Exorcist (worst film ever made).
WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP!! The Exorcist is brilliant,The Heretic is a pile of crap though,and the third is ok.I must admit the first time I saw the first one when I was a kid,I watched it on a bootleg video,wasn't impressed.It's one of those films you grow to like more as you get older.Not that I'm saying I'm old mind!!
So has anyone here a review to offer comparing that Renny Harlin (:barf:) re-shot version of the new Exorcist movie and the Paul Schrader one? I see both are out on DVD now.
monty wrote:
404 error wrote: Nope, but judging from the trailers and the reviews it sounds like utter drivel. Is there some sort of trend in Hollywood now for films aimed at believing Christians? (The Mel Gibson bore-fest, the narnia thing, now this?). I guess there's no reason why Christians shouldn't have Hollywood tripe inflicted on them just like the rest of us.
My only interest is whether this film manages to be even worse than the Exorcist (worst film ever made).
WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT WITH SOAP!! The Exorcist is brilliant,The Heretic is a pile of crap though,and the third is ok.I must admit the first time I saw the first one when I was a kid,I watched it on a bootleg video,wasn't impressed.It's one of those films you grow to like more as you get older.Not that I'm saying I'm old mind!!
At last, an actual fan of that film to argue with! It always seems to get raved about by film critics who I suspect have never actually seen it but are just repeating recieved wisdom. What is it you actually like about it?
I saw it years ago (with much build up, 'banned for years', 'most frightening film ever' etc) and found it ludicrous and not remotely scary. The only slightly scary bit was at the start when the girl has that spinal tap procedure - medical procedures are always icky. But after that it just gets silly.
How can one take seriously a Devil/Demon who resorts to party tricks like levitating beds and rotating heads? It makes him seem more like David Copperfield (the naff magician, not the Dickens character) than the embodyment of evil. I mean, us humans manage vastly more terrifying levels of evil than that on an everyday basis. And projectile vomiting? Like Monseiur Creosote out of Monty Python (or a friend I once went on holiday with who got severe food poisoning - God that was messy) And little kids swearing isn't very shocking to anyone who went to an inner city comprehensive. The audience in the cinema I saw it at mostly reacted with laughter.
Maybe one has to be from a religous background to take any of it seriously? But then again I found the Omen really scary, despite not being at all religious, because surely that's how the devil would operate if he existed - like the CIA with 'plausible deniability'. Acting via the cold impersonal malevolence of nature and accidents (and even an atheist like me has to admit the natural world can be terrrifyingly coldly malevolent).
By being too blatently supernatural the devil/demon in the Exercist just ended up looking desperate - like he's a rank amateur at this evilness stuff compared to us humans. That's how it seemed to me, anyway. I mean, there are natural diseases far more terrifying than the demonic possesion shown here ('Oh thank God, its only a demon, I was terrified it was mad cow disease').
Anyway, your milage may vary, and thats the second time I've gone on about this topic on this forum so I should shut up now.
AgentWood wrote:
404 error wrote: Nope, but judging from the trailers and the reviews it sounds like utter drivel. Is there some sort of trend in Hollywood now for films aimed at believing Christians?
not just films but books, tapes, any kind of entertainment you can think of. the apocalyptic 'left behind' series has sold, what, 200 million copies or so? scary.
Yeah, I know there's a Christian subculture with its own books and music (doing its best to prove the adage that 'the devil has all the best tunes') but for Hollywood to wake up to this market seems a new phenomenon and a bit more troubling. Hollywood product reaches all over the world, influencing people outside the target market of US hardline Christians (who I think are already as bad as they are going to get). Still, I guess they've as much right to have Hollywood pap pander to their unquestioned assumptions as liberals do.
hey, whatever makes money for a studio....
i don't know if i'd call the exorcist terrifying, but remember that when it was released in 1973 it was unheard of to have that kind of language and graphic violence in a film. the director's cut is more frightening, as it includes (for example) the part where regan walks down the stairs backwards like a spider. now that part did scare me (along with the scene where father damien opens the door to regan's room and sees his mother sitting in the bed). i see the exorcist more as a 'psychological thriller' than a horror film, because father damien's crisis of faith coincides with his discovery of this girl's possession/disorder, and it brings out his own guilt about his mother's death. the second one was awful and, actually, i thought the third was scarier than the first. this last one, exorcist: the beginning, was utterly mediocre.
as for the exorcism of emily rose: i watched it yesterday and it was OK, but not something i'd necessarily want to see again. it filled an hour-and-a-half that i had nothing else to do with--filler material, i guess.
Emily Rose: The Real Story of Anneliese Michel's Exorcism Director Scott Derrickson Movie The Exorcism Of Emily Rose Posted By: MacReady / Source
From her birth on the 21st of September, 1952, Anneliese Michel enjoyed the life of a normal, religiously nurtured young girl. Without warning, her life changed on a day in 1968 when she began shaking and found she was unable to control her body. She could not call out for her parents, Josef and Anna, or any of her 3 sisters. A neurologist at the Psychiatric Clinic Wurzburg diagnosed her with "Grand Mal" epilepsy. Because of the strength of the epileptic fits, and the severity of the depression that followed, Anneliese was admitted for treatment at the hospital.
Soon after the attacks began, Anneliese started seeing devilish grimaces during her daily praying. It was the fall of 1970, and while the young people of the world were enjoying the liberal freedoms of the time, Anneliese was battling with the belief that she was possessed. It seemed there was no other explanation for the appearance of devilish visions during her prayers. Voices also began following her, saying Anneliese will "stew in hell". She mentioned the "demons" to the doctors only once, explaining that they have started to give her orders. The doctors seem unable to help, and Anneliese lost hope that medicine was going to be able to cure her.
In the summer of 1973, her parents visited different pastors to request an exorcism. Their requests were rejected and they were given recommendations that the now 20 year old Anneliese should continue with medication and treatment. It was explained that the process by which the Church proves a possession (Infestatio) is strictly defined, and until all the criterion is met, a Bishop can not approve an exorcism. The requirements, to name a few, include an aversion to religious objects, speaking in a language the person has never learned, and supernatural powers.
In 1974, after supervising Anneliese for some time, Pastor Ernst Alt requested a permit to perform the exorcism from the Bishop of Wurzburg. The request was rejected, and a recommendation soon followed saying that Anneliese should live even more of a religious lifestyle in order to find peace. The attacks did not diminish, and her behavior become more erratic. At her parents' house in Klingenberg, she insulted, beat, and began biting the other members of her family. She refused to eat because the demons would not allow it. Anneliese slept on the stone floor, ate spiders, flies, and coal, and even began drinking her own urine. She could be heard screaming throughout the house for hours while breaking crucifixes, destroying paintings of Jesus, and pulling apart rosaries. Anneliese began committing acts of self-mutilation at this time, and the act of tearing off her clothes and urinating on the floor became commonplace.
After making an exact verification of the possession in September 1975, the Bishop of Wurzburg, Josef Stangl, assigned Father Arnold Renz and Pastor Ernst Alt with the order to perform "The Great Exorcism" on Anneliese Michel. The basis for this ritual was the "Rituale Romanum", which was still, at the time, a valid Cannon Law from the 17th century. It was determined that Anneliese must be saved from the possession by several demons, including Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Cain, Hitler, and Fleischmann, a disgraced Frankish Priest from the 16th century, and some other damned souls which had manifested through her. From September '75 until July '76, one or two exorcism sessions were held each week. Anneliese's attacks were sometimes so strong that she would have to be held down by 3 men, or even chained up. During this time, Anneliese found her life somewhat return to normal as she could again go to school, take final examinations at the Pedagogic Academy in Wurzburg, and go to church.
The attacks, however, did not stop. In fact, she would more often find herself paralyzed and falling unconscious than before. The exorcism continued over many months, always with the same prayers and incantations. Sometimes family members and visitors, like one married couple that claims to have "discovered" Anneliese, would be present during the rituals. For several weeks, Anneliese denied all food. Her knees ruptured due to the 600 genuflections she performed obsessively during the daily exorcism. Over 40 audio tapes record the process, in order to preserve the details.
The last day of the Exorcism Rite was on June 30th, 1976, and Anneliese was suffering at this point from Pneumonia. She was also totally emaciated, and running a high fever. Exhausted and unable to physically perform the genuflections herself, her parents stood in and helped carry her through the motions. "Beg for Absolution" is the last statement Anneliese made to the exorcists. To her mother, she said, "Mother, I'm afraid." Anna Michel recorded the death of her daughter on the following day, July 1st, 1976, and at noon, Pastor Ernst Alt informed the authorities in Aschaffenburg. The senior prosecutor began investigating immediately.
A short time before these final events unfolded, William Friedkin's "The Exorcist" (1974) came to the cinemas in Germany, bringing with it a wave of paranormal hysteria that flooded the nation. Psychiatrists all over Europe reported an increase of obsessive ideas among their patients. Prosecutors took more than 2 years to to take Annaliese's case to court, using that time to sort through the bizarre facts. Anneliese's parents and the two exorcists were accused of negligent homocide. The "Klingenberg Case" would be decided upon two questions: What caused the death of Anneliese Michel, and who was responsible?
According the forensic evidence, "Anneliese starved to death". Specialists claimed that if the accused would have begun with forced feeding one week before her death, Anneliese's life would have been saved. One sister told the court that Anneliese did not want to go to a mental home where she would be sedated and forced to eat. The exorcists tried to prove the presence of the demons, playing taped recordings of strange dialogues like that of two demons arguing about which one of them would have to leave Anneliese's body first. One of the demons called himself Hitler, and spoke with a Frankish accent (Hitler was born in Austria). Not one of those present during the exorcism ever had a doubt about the authenticity of the presence of these demons.
The psychiatrists, whom had been ordered to testify by the court, spoke about the "Doctrinaire Induction". They said that the priests had provided Anneliese with the contents of her psychotic behavior. Consequentially, they claimed, she later accepted her behavior as a form of demonic possession. They also offered that Anneliese's unsettled sexual development, along with her diagnosed Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, had influenced the psychosis.
The verdict was considered by many as not as harsh as they expected. Anneliese's parents, as well as the exorcists, were found guilty of manslaughter resulting from negligence and omitting first aid. They were sentenced to 6 months in jail and probation. The verdict included the opinion of the court that the accused should have helped by taking care of the medical treatment that the girl needed, but instead, their use of naive practices aggrivated Anneliese's already poor constitution.
A commission of the German Bishop-Conference later declared that Anneliese Michel was not possessed, however, this did not keep believers from supporting her struggles, and it was because so many believed in her that Anneliese's body did not find peace with death. Her corpse was exhumed eleven and a half years after her burial, only to confirm that it had decayed as would have been expected under normal circumstances. Today, her grave remains a place of pilgrimage for rosary-praying and for those who believe that Anneliese Michel bravely fought the devil.
In 1999, Cardinal Medina Estevez presented journalists in Vatican-City the new version of the "Rituale Romanum" that has been used by the Catholic Church since 1614. The updates came after more than 10 years of editing and is called "De exorcismis et supplicationibus quibusdam" otherwise known as "The exorcism for the upcoming millennium". The Pope approbated the new Exorcism Rite, which is now allowed for worldwide use. This new form of exorcism came after the German Bishop-Conference demanded to ultimately abolish the "Rituale Romanum". It also came more than 20 years after Anneliese Michel had died.
i saw the movie in the theater, most of the scary parts are in the trailer but the movie was entertaining and you got a few good scares too, the story was more like a courtroom drama than a horror movie, but it was very interesting. and it is very loosly based on that true story about the German Girl posted Above by Nic
