The Exorcism of Emily Rose (GAM270)

### Starring:

Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson, Campbell Scott, Colm Feore, Jennifer Carpenter, Mary Beth Hurt, Henry Czerny, Shohreh Aghdashloo

### Production Company:

Lakeshore Entertainment, Firm Films, Mist Entertainment

## Hosts

Noah Lugeons

Eli Bosnick

### Special Guest

Michael Marshall

***The Exorcism of Emily Rose*** is the true story of a teenager (in real life she was called Anneliese Michel), who's epilepsy and schizophrenia caused her strict Catholic parents to think that she was possessed by demons, so they had a priest take her off her medication, subject her to sixty-seven separate exorcisms, and ultimately starve her to death. And that story alone would make this a horror film, but instead the guys who made this film went with "But what if she actually *was* possessed", so they could make her killers the good guys.

### **Opening Phrase**

Where each week we sample another selection from Christian cinema, because… they're better than watching reality at this point.

### **How [Negligently Homicidal] Was It?**

Well, if you love "based on a true story" horror movies, but your Andrea Yates screenplay just hasn't gotten accepted yet, you will *love* this movie.

### **Best Worst**

* Marsh: ...based on a true story. [Worse than *The Cokeville Miracle*.)
* Noah: ...title. [It kind of tips their hand.]
* Eli: ...lawyer. [Not only bad at her job, but bad at being a human.]

### **Notes**

* Check out Marsh (editor of The Skeptic) on Twitter, *Be Reasonable*, *Skeptics with a K*, and at The Good Thinking Society or [thanks to Eli] Skeptic of the Year.
* Halloween Spooktacular! 44% on Rotten Tomatoes.
* The website for the film appears to have simply redirected to a Sony Pictures page.

### **Jokes**

* [Eli: And this reminded me so much of something from my *own* life. So, way back when I was trying to be an actor—and Noah, you can cut this if this isn't funny or not relevant to the movie—way back when I was trying to be an actor, right? I got cast in a TV pilot called *The Real Scooby-Doo*, and what they wanted is... they wanted a skeptic, and then believers, and a bunch of other people—people from *all* walks of life.] [Noah: And a dog.] [Eli: Right, and a dog, right. But then when they hired—they didn't actually want a real skeptic, they wanted someone who would be like "I've never seen a ghost. There one is! I believe now." So, I got fired on the very first day of shooting the pilot, because they gathered us all together, and they were like "So, do you think there are any ghosts in the house?" And I was like, "There absolutely aren't any ghosts in the house, 'cause nothing happens when you die. Imagine the consequences of us believing that ghosts were real or even possible." And then there was like a four minute pause while I realized that I was fired… and this is the lawyer version of that. This is the "got sent home at lunch and were asked no to have crafty" of lawyering.] (34:29)
* [Eli: Also, if you're a priest and a hallway starts to fill with scary demon shit, I get being surprised, but that's your *whole* jam, dude. Alright? This is—if you're—this is getting challenged to a fight at TGI Fridays if you spend every Saturday learnin' karate, right?.\ Do your shit! But, he doesn't do his shit—he's just like "Um… uh, I sure hope the angels are here too!" You fuckin' *suck*, dude! And I say this genuinely from the bottom of my heart: if a demon appeared in my home this evening, I would be so much better prepared than anyone in any of the horror movies we've ever watched. I'd be like "Oh, okay; either I'm *insane* or this is real, but I know all the words they say, so \*pew pew pew.\*" I'd be doing Jesus backflips and shit; I'd be like "I'm gonna pull a sword from the air, because nine out of ten times, you can just do that shit. \*sching\* Yup, sword from the air."] (1:15:11)

### **Interstitials**

* Meeting of the Men Who Are Still Somehow Inexplicably Screenwriters (6:28)
* Satan, What's the Point? (43:05)
* Satan Catches Up on *Justified* (1:10:16)
* Noah's Sleep/Spoiled for Headlines (1:53:12) [Patreon Extra]

### **Tropes**

* Atheist Converts to Christianity
* Atheist Writer in the Room
* Christians Don't Know How the World Works
* Disappointing Christian Celebrity
* Heroes are Villains, Villains are Heroes
* Indoctrination of Children
* Neglectful/~~Godless~~/Abusive Parent
* Problem of Evil
* Reprehensible Moral Message
* See You In Court
* Take Your Medicine!
* Wake Up!

### **Links**

* Episode on Audioboom
* Episode on YouTube
* Trailer on YouTube
* Film (Backwards) on Youtube
* IMDb

### **Ad Reads**

* Manscaped: How to Deal with Heath's Nose and Ear Hair (1:55:05) [Code: AWFUL]
* Keeps: Dave Scrumpskin, Eli's New Personality (1:56:30)
* Quip: Exploiting Marsh for the Myth of Bad British Teeth (1:58:03)