By Evan Ferstenfeld

Of all the tall tales the cinema has made us swallow over years of asteroid spelunkers and yapping barnyard piglets, none may be as unbelievable and recklessly exploitative than that of films "based on a true story," or its sister tagline which is held even less accountable for its chronic fibbing of source material, "inspired by true events." James Cameron's Titanic replicated the nose-thumbing decadence of the doomed vessel's confines and everyone within them down to the smallest golden ashtray. However, most features end up like Ron Howard's Cinderella Man, who completely fabricated the James Bond-villain delight in which the movie's head rival explodes his cartoon mallet-strength jabs onto opponent's craniums. The Coen Brother's icy humored and icy weathered Fargo playfully neglected to tell people that the supposedly true drama unfolding in front of them purposely didn't contain a shred of fact.

It should come as little surprise to people that if they dig into the actual events surrounding the unsuccessful exorcism on the German student Anneliese Michel that has been smoothed into The Exorcism of Emily Rose, they will find much to cluck their tongues at. Eye-witness accounts have been bounced through numerous funhouse mirrors, and people involved have been combined, created or magically placed in harm's way all to drive up the movie's intensity while de-valuing its authenticity.

Fortunately, whatever writer/director Scott Derrickson's Emily Rose lacks in true nature is made up in its ability to arouse the unsettling fear of the unknown from its audience so convincingly, while simultaneously showing them how easily each of its scares can be thoroughly debunked in the proper light. The film embarks on a mental tug-of-war with the audience's emotions and mindsets, taking place almost entirely in a crowded courtroom setting as a religious but shrewd lawyer (Campbell Scott resuming his rightful place within A-List Hollywood affairs) attempts to factually prove criminal negligence against a priest (a moving Tom Wilkinson) who claimed exorcism in place of medicine would be the key to Emily's salvation. Laura Linney plays Father Moore's ambitious and agnostic defense lawyer, an initial skeptic of her client's claims but soon finds herself questioning some of her most basic beliefs.

As a horror film, Derrickson (Hellraiser: Inferno, Urban Legends: Final Cut) digs deep into his demonic sack of scare em' tricks, delivering subtle but clever tweaks on established genre clichés (bravo to the sound department) in a successful effort to jam our feelings into the mindset of a young woman crawling with creepy cursed beings. Derrickson's greatest achievement is not in his movie's frights, but in its approach of his film's supernatural elements without fear of a secular air of doubt seeping into the scariness. The dual battle of good vs. evil and facts vs. faith also doubles the mystery, as the film thematically shrugs its shoulders as to who is right or wrong in the courtroom battle while showing an unknown entity's grisly results on Emily Rose (a frightfully good Jennifer Carpenter). Call Derrickson's new genre Law and Order horror, with a dash of Inherit the Wind and the X-Files skeptic/believer set-up grafted onto the leading lawyer characters.

Despite the predictable, half-assed Hollywood contrivances the film needlessly distills in its outside-the-courtroom character development and action scenes, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is riveting when detailing the events and aftermath surrounding Emily's demise. Instead of drenching the audience with holy water and irrefutable belief in demonic possession, Emily Rose takes the role of the new-age theology professor who challenges you to explore the multitude of possibilities for what forces hide just beyond our immediate world's existence.

Grade: B+
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 114 Mins.