Devil inside

Unless you're a big fraidy-cat, the demonic hoodoo in The Exorcism of Emily Rose won't scare you that much. The A-list horror flick's inability to put the fright on its audiences, however, turns out to be the least of its problems.

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The Exorcism of Emily Rose has grander ambitions than your usual don't-go-in-there fear-fest. A courtroom drama about a priest's trial following a failed exorcism, the film tries to hash out heavy debates of religious faith vs. legal proof — punctuated by interludes of a nubile young woman cringing from wraiths and eating bugs. With its potential for both big issues and big box office, The Exorcism of Emily Rose secured a highly respectable cast, and you feel all the more embarrassed for the actors as the film stumbles on every level.

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Laura Linney plays Erin Bruner, a defense attorney who takes the case of Father Moore (In the Bedroom's Tom Wilkinson), held for negligent homicide in the death of farm girl-turned-co-ed Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter). Characters flash back to Emily Rose's nightmarish final days as Bruner researches the facts and, at trial, the prosecution and defense lay out their cases.

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Initially excited about college — "This is your dream, Emily!" her mother helpfully points out — the church-going girl faces worse than the freshman 15. Emily Rose encounters poltergeist activity in the dorm, sees apparitions during exams and begins speaking in tongues. Unfortunately, no one bothers to remember an actual conversation with Emily, sticking Carpenter with a thankless role that consists largely of gibberish and contortions.

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Campbell Scott's devoutly religious prosecutor contends that Emily Rose suffered from symptoms of epilepsy and psychosis — a flashback shows her having a grand mal seizure — instead of demonic influences. Mental illness and self-hypnosis doubtless have deep roots in documented cases of possession, but rather than leave Emily Rose's condition ambiguous, the movie overtly endorses the devil's hijinks. As the trial continues, Bruner and Moore quake over vaguely supernatural goings-on. But since we don't believe anything bad will happen to them during the trial, and we know exactly when Emily Rose dies, The Exorcism of Emily Rose's attempts to go "Boo!" fall flat.

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Bruner gets the bold idea to argue for the validity of exorcisms and proceeds to mount the most laughable defense imaginable, featuring Shohreh Aghdashloo as a kooky, Carlos Castenada-quoting possession expert. You half-expect Bruner to blurt, "Possession is nine-tenths of the law!" to defend Father Moore.

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At every opportunity, the movie proclaims that it's based on a true story (from Germany in the 1970s), but you wish you were watching a documentary about bona fide exorcism procedures and the challenges of holding religious rituals to legal standards. The Exorcism of Emily Rose turns out to be the kind of contrived courtroom drama in which the defendant sits on key evidence solely for script convenience. You'd do better with a Halloween episode of "Law and Order."

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Bruner questions her atheism, admits the moral consequences of defending criminals, and otherwise Learns Important Lessons like any Hollywood protagonist. Father Moore could be a complex character — a priest faced with both proof of the afterlife and the disheartening limitations of earthly powers to thwart Satan. Wilkinson only makes him a twitchy, masochistic weirdo. The script floats the idea that Emily Rose serves as a martyr making a noble sacrifice, but the movie's theology feels hopelessly muddled, closer to The Passion of the Christ's punishment-based religion than The Exorcist's hard-earned endorsement of hope.

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Director Scott Derrickson builds a minor sense of dread in the early scenes at Emily Rose's remote farmhouse, but it comes up far short in both the courtroom theatrics and occult combat. His superficially slick production and overqualified cast will certainly earn The Exorcism of Emily Rose more attention than the finished product deserves. Ultimately, it's on a par with those straight-to-DVD horror flicks you find by accident at the video store. In a better world, you'd only encounter The Exorcism of Emily Rose haunting some shelf space between The Dukes of Hazzard and Fantastic Four.