Category: Films

The Exorcism of Emily Rose [2005]

Director: Scott Derrickson
Actor: Laura Linney, Jennifer Carpenter, Tom Wilkinson

Before I say anything about this film, it’s important that everyone understands that The Exorcism of Emily Rose is based on the story of Annalise Michel, a German girl who died after an excorcism was performed on her, back in the 70s. You can say what you will, you can be as skeptical as you want to be, but that kind of makes the movie a bit more creepy, regardless of the truth behind the story. :)

Emily Rose is a girl that comes from a very small town, somewhere in the mid-west or perhaps New England, who is accepted to a college in “the city” (which city that is, is unclear) on a full scholarship. There she finds herself assaulted by an invisible force one night at 3 am. It’s the start of a string of attacks on her. These are attacks are physical, mental as well as spiritual, and while doctors tell her that she might be epileptic, she comes to the conclusion that this is a spiritual matter, rather than a medical one, and she decides to move back home. There the attacks turn into an actual invasion of her body by a malevolent spirit, and the family’s priest is asked to help. The priest ends up doing an exorcism, which fails, and Emily dies.

That’s where the movie starts, with the incarceration of the priest. The next hour and a half is basically a courtroom drama, which tells of the trial of Father Moore, the priest in question, as he tries to defend himself against the charge of criminal negligence resulting in Emily’s death. They tell the tale of Emily’s posession, which is a creepy one, while trying to refute the public defender’s claim that there was nothing spiritually wrong with Emily, but that this was simply a case of epilepsy, which could have been treated with the right medication.

The story and visuals really appealed to me, because I think Catholicism has a great mythological background, which makes for great tales of Good pitched against Evil. Like The Exorcist, this film is sober and bleak, not relying on visual effects to deliver the punch. The juxtaposition of the court room drama, and the drama unfolding in the flashbacks of Emily’s last few days are very, very gripping, and with an excellent cast of relatively unknown people, you are not tempted to deform the actor’s part to what you have come to expect of the actor. The casting was spot on, right down to the super-religious, slightly bumpkin family of Emily. Great film.

A History of Violence [2005]

Director: David Cronenberg
Actor: Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello, Ed Harris, William Hurt

Tom Stall (Mortensen) is a humble and loving family man living in a small town in Indiana, happily married and running a small diner in the centre of town. He is a well respected and popular member of the small, close-knit community, and with two healthy kids and a beautiful wife seems to be living out the American Dream.

When one day two notorious murderers come knocking at the diner at closing time, dead set on robbing the place and leaving some cold bodies on the checkered floor, Tom is forced to take action. In a heroic display of violence he guns down the killers while himself sustaining only minor injuries. He is heralded as a hero, and seen as the man who decidedly and single-handedly stopped the robbery, saved the threatened people that were still in the diner, and rid the streets of two wanted killers.

Much to his irritation, his face is plastered all over the news, which attracts some unwanted attention. A mobster from the eastcoast by the name of Fogarty (Harris) comes calling with two goons, claiming Tom is someone else, someone they’ve been trying to track down for a long time. They insist and start harrassing him and his family.

What happens next is appaling and appealing at the same time, in that Cronenberg sort of way. I enjoyed this movie a lot, for it’s acting, directing and its gratuitous but purposeful violence.

Doom [2005]

Director: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Actor: The Rock, Karl Urban

It’s twenty years into the future, and a strange portal has been found in the Nevada desert that can teleport people to a strange base on Mars. The base seemed to have been once inhabited by a people that resemble human very closely. It’s an archaelogical site that’s continuously being excavated in order to find out more information about these ancient people, their technology and their customs. It’s also a science laboratory where experiments are done, mostly environmental.

These ancient people resembled humans very closely, but the younger ones they excavated have an extra chromosome (24 instead of the normal 23 for humans), while the older ones only had 23, leading researchers to believe that the extra chromosome was artificially created by them. Insert a team of experts doing genetic experiments. Insert a bio-weaponry project. Insert test subjects getting out of control. Insert massacre. Insert a small squad of ass-stomping marines under the leadership of The Rock, sent in to clean the place out.

In itself the movie is pretty shit, but highly entertaining. The story of marines going in to investigate and clean a research facility has been done to death, and done first and best by Aliens, probably one of the best films of the last 2 decades. What is cool about this film, however, is how closely it resembles the (third and latest) game, maybe no in story, but definitely in atmosphere, weapons and action. There’s even a whole 10 minute scene in complete first person mode, excellently done, with a “BOOM…Headshot!” moment, and a chainsaw melee moment. It really can’t much better than this.

I was in the cinema, laughing out loud like a little kid, strangely reminded of my time watching XXX with Caz, Barb, Jes and Cash.

The Skeleton Key [2005]

Director: Iain Softley
Actor: Kate Hudson, Gena Rowlands, John Hurt, Peter Sarsgaard

Ever since I played Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father’s, I’ve had a bit of a facination for Voodoo and Hoodoo. Most films that I’ve seen that paid it tribute, most notably Angel Heart (from ’87, starring Mickey Rourke, Lisa Bonet and Robert deNiro), I thoroughly enjoy. This film is no exception. I find that I can’t really tell you much about the plot, since it’s so simple, yet clever, that giving away the slightest will give away too much of the movie. While it’s of the “I Know What You Did Last Summer” style of films, and the traditional Hoodoo in it, isn’t properly explained, nor represented I’m guessing, it’s still good fun to watch, and a must for everyone who digs Lovecraftian stories, for it has incredible “The Case of Dexter Ward” overtones.

Oops, I’ve said too much!

Dog Day Afternoon [1975]

Director: Sidney Lumet
Actor: Al Pacino, John Cazale

In my attempt to watch some of the great, under-appreciated movies of all time I watched Dog Day Afternoon today, while I was home sick from work. This film is based on a true story of a man robbing a bank to pay for his lover’s sex-change operation. I’m not going to review all of it, because I’m ill, and because it’ll be hard to find the words to describe this film – the distinct, mid-seventies feel, the tempo, the acting – because it’s 30 years old. Made in a time of many great films, most of them, if not all of them, ending up forgotten. This film, as well as Serpico, come to mind. This is probably one of Pacino’s best films.