The Exorcism of Emily Rose

A courtroom drama with a possession inside it, which is a smarter frame than the subgenre usually manages.

A priest is on trial for negligent homicide after an exorcism. The film alternates between the trial and flashbacks, and it is scrupulous about presenting the medical explanation and the supernatural one as equally coherent, because that is what the jury is being asked to weigh.

It is based on the case of Anneliese Michel, a German woman who died in 1976 after 67 exorcism sessions, and whose parents and two priests were convicted of negligent homicide.

Jennifer Carpenter did the contortions herself without effects, which is why they read as physical rather than digital.

The 3am motif is cheap and effective. Everything in the courtroom is better than everything in the bedroom, which is unusual for the genre and is the reason it holds up.