Exorcism Of Emily Rose, The (Blu-ray)

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Then there's the breakthrough performance of Jennifer Carpenter ("Dexter") as Emily in a series of flashbacks. In one of the bonus features, Derrickson mentions that Carpenter wasn't first on his list for the role. But after she auditioned and nailed the part better than anyone had ever expected, it changed everyone's perspective on how they were going to approach the film. In fact, the filmmakers had to reevaluate many of the production plans because she was so talented.

What I liked most about "The Exorcism of Emily Rose," though, was how the trial was portrayed in the movie. Both the defense and the prosecution present very convincing arguments of what happened to Emily, and the film leaves it up to the viewer to decide on their own. It never forces us to lean one way or the other, and doesn't try to stuff religion down our throats.

Video:
"The Exorcism of Emily Rose" makes its debut in high-definition on a BD-50 (MPEG-4 AVC video codec) and features its theatrical 2.40:1 widescreen aspect ratio. Admittedly, I wasn't impressed with the lackluster standard-definition transfer that came out a few years back. In that version, I found the picture quality to be way too dark, so much so that throughout the entire film it felt like I was wearing a pair of sunglasses. It made it very difficult to see exactly what was going on and get absorbed into the story.

The Blu-ray, on the other hand, is a huge improvement over the DVD. Colors are still intentionally dull and bleak to retain a certain gloomy appearance, but the picture itself is now much more vivid so that details are rarely obscured by complete darkness. Black levels are rich and deep, and the only flaw that I noticed was some minimal edge enhancement in a handful of scenes. As a whole, the picture falls short of reference material quality, but it's still a good one.

Audio:
The disc features lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 tracks in English, French, and Portuguese, as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in Spanish and Thai. For a catalog title, Sony deserves high props for delivering a top-notch audio presentation that is slightly even more impressive than the video. The dialogue is clear and balanced well with the eerie music, and I particularly enjoyed the jingling of keys and echoing slams of cell doors when Bruner visited Father Moore at the jail. The exorcism was also an audio delight with sounds coming from all angles. Subtitles are also provided in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Indonesian.

Extras:
Pretty much all of the bonus materials included here on the Blu-ray have migrated over from the uncut special edition of the standard definition DVD.

Right off the top there's a typical "Audio Commentary" helmed entirely by director Scott Derrickson. Film students and fans of the movie should appreciate the technical aspects Derrickson uncovers, although casual viewers might find the one-man show a little tiresome after a while. Personally, I would have also liked to hear what some of the actors had to say about the project, too.

Following the commentary are three featurettes. "Genesis of the Story" (19:48) maps out how the fictional film evolved from a true story; "Casting The Film" (12:23) is a short segment covering the recruitment of the actors and actresses; and "Visual Design" (18:58) touches on some of the behind-the-scenes visuals such as the intentionally dull color palette used for the set and explains the significance of certain colors shown in the film.

The last real bonus is a lone "Deleted Scene" (2:41) where Linney's character picks up a random bar patron and brings him home for a roll in the hay. It didn't really add anything to the film and strayed too far off base from the story, which Derrickson explains in an optional commentary.

The only Blu-ray exclusive is three high-definition trailers for "Blu-ray Disc," "21," and "Starship Troopers 3: Marauder" that autoplay on startup.

The Final Cut:
I actually wasn't all that crazy about "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" the first time I saw it roughly two and a half years ago. It might have had something to do with the tinted and unappealing video quality, or perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood, or maybe it's simply the type of film that is an acquired taste. Whichever the case may be, this Blu-ray is one Hail Mary for horror and courtroom drama fans alike.

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