Far superior to the silly robot in a silver jumper original (even though the seven-foot-tall guy inside sacrificed his mental health for the sake of cinema). I loved the glowing globes, the enormous Gort, Reeves as Klaatu, and the message. Earth doesn’t belong to us.

I recently watched the original, black & white,1951 movie. Who could possibly say this re-imaging is inferior? I loved the glowing globes, the enormous Gort, Reeves as Klaatu, and the message. Earth does not belong to us. Was the 1951 movie sci-fi’s CITIZEN KANE?

Would today’s audience accept a male alien hanging out with a boy without the mother present? I knew the new version would have to correct that. And the classic line? Only the star of the movie could deliver the iconic “Klaatu barada nikto”. It’s as if the house maid had said, “Frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a damn.”

(Pay attention since it’s easy to miss. It is not done as an “I’ll be back” moment. Klaatu says the line to Gort after he is wounded.)

I saw DESS in Imax and I will see it again. If you think Keanu Reeves is a little “stiff” as Klaatu, was Michael Rennie any more expressive? Klaatu is an alien without Earth-based emotions. And he’s serious about his mission.

If you don’t know the story, here goes a brief summary. Glowing huge globes suddenly land all over Earth. The U.S. one lands in New York’s Central Park! An alien alights from the glowing globe and is immediately shot at. This confirms that humans are hostile, violent beings. The alien, Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), is protected by an enormous robot nicknamed “Gort” by the military. The military wants to destroy Gort, kill Klaatu and not bother asking any questions.

Klaatu is merely injured and is sent to a military hospital where he meets astrobiologist Helen (Jennifer Connelly). Helen helps Klaatu escape. He meets an old friend slumming as a human.

The glowing globes cause mass riots, food famines, and everybody is jumping into the Express-to-Hell handbasket with their looted flat screen TVs.

In 1994 I conducted THE ALEXANDER UFO RELIGIOUS CRISIS SURVEY: THE IMPACT OF UFOS AND THEIR OCCUPANTS ON RELIGION for The Bigelow Foundation.

The abstract states: The Alexander UFO Religious Crisis survey addresses just one of many problems facing the UFO Community: how would organized religions in the United States react to confirmation of contact with an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. The results of this pilot survey are straightforward and remarkably simple. The theologians surveyed would not feel their faith and the faith of their congregation would be threatened. The following results, based upon a 23% return (230 surveys) should have a significant and meaningful impact on the UFO Community, its doctrines and attitudes. http://www.nidsci.org/articles/alexander/survey_religion.html

Helen is mother to peeved, nasty stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith, whose family needs his salary). Helen’s husband/Jacob’s father was killed in the Iraq War. Klaatu realizes that Earth’s humans are still hell-bent on war and destruction.

Klaatu is not here to save us but the planet. He wants one simple thing. He wants to address the United Nations. But stiff-necked, anal-retentive Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates) is unimpressed with having a visitor from a highly advanced planet as her guest. She tells Klaatu that to have him speak to the U.N. is absurd. And since no world leaders, the press, and public are not interested in him, when he escapes, Jackson uses the red phone. Arrest the illegal alien and destroy Gort with fire power and/or nuclear weapons. Whatever it takes.

Klaatu needs help getting around without money, so Helen (along with angry Jacob) takes him to meet Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese). When Klaatu fixes a complex mathematical problem for Bardhardt, he has the Nobel winner’s complete attention. But the professor doesn’t know anyone who will help Klaatu with his mission. He doesn’t even pull out a digital camera to memorialize the visit.

With no one listening to Klaatu, the planet’s humans are on course to be destroyed. The clock is ticking and no one cares.

DESS is directed by Scott Derrickson. I like the added dimensions and explanations that enlarged the simplistic original. The feel is much more intense (then the original) and flows with an ominous note.

Visual effects supervisor Jeff Okun has given DESS a sinister look and alien-like texture. In fact, the visual effects are really outstanding. I especially liked GORT. And Reeves’s performance? Yes, it was tough to match Michael Rennie’s suave, smiling alien on a mission. Reeves’s Klaatu is far more menacing and goal-oriented. Jaden Smith’s role, as written, makes him an annoying, disrespectful kid. With Jacob’s behavior, I could easily see him joining Hitler’s Youth and snitching on his parents.

I’ve just finished reading “An Exorcist Tells His Story” by renowned chief exorcist of Rome, Gabriele Amorth. Fr. Amorth accounts many experiences in his ministry as an exorcist “doing battle with Satan to relieve the great suffering of many people in the grip of evil.” I believe in demons and the effectiveness of exorcism.

Jesus was an exorcist (Luke 13:11-12; Mark 9:17-27) who empowered his apostles to cast out demons: “In my name they will cast out demons.” (Mark 16-17). Therefore, the Catholic Church cannot deny that Satan does possess people and priests can cast out demons. The tradition of exorcism goes right back to the Church’s founder.

Fr. Amorth mentions the exorcism of Annelise [sp] Michel of Kilingenberg, Germany. Michel was twenty-one years old when she died in 1976 following a long series of exorcisms. Her possession began in 1968. The two exorcists involved, and the parents, underwent a legal trial. Fr. Amorth mentions a book that researched the facts of the case in greater depth than a previous book that implied “the two priests were all too eager to suspect the presence of diabolic possession.” “Annelise Michel” by Kasper Bullinger, exonerated the two exorcists.

Fr. Amorth writes: “[The book] demonstrated that both the bishop who had authorized the exorcisms and the two priests had acted with the utmost propriety. The book also indicated the cause of the girl’s death, which was completely independent from the administration and reception of the sacramental. In any case, this event contributed to the reluctance of priests to accept appointments as exorcists.”

The exorcism of Anneliese Michel is the basis for THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE.

In 1990-91 I spent a considerable amount of time with Arkansas psychic Carol Pate, who “depossessed” hundreds of people suffering with demonic possession. I have Carol’s manual “New Revelations: A New Age Christian Depossession Manual” and attended several of her private and public workshops. I recently saw Carol on Court TV’s “Psychic Detectives.” (I was never “depossessed,” choosing instead to keep my demons who are very entertaining and like going to movies with me.)

Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) is an unlikely candidate for demonic possession: she is a 19 year old, very devout Catholic. (Demons are usually invited in.) As soon as she leaves for college, the demonic forces that invaded her body start raising havoc. (The reason why Emily was chosen is explained. She was a sensitive, sought after by the demons because of her sanctity.*) She leaves college and returns home where her medication for psychotic epilepsy does not relieve her symptoms. Her parents call in their parish priest, Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson). With the approval of his diocese, he begins, on Halloween Night, the Rituale Romanun Rite of Exorcism.

Upon examining Emily’s horrific bodily condition, the medical doctor refuses to certify her death as due to natural causes. Father Moore is arrested.** The diocese hires brilliant lawyer Erin Bruner (Laura Linney), after her boss tells her he will make her a partner if she (a) gets the priest to take a deal, or, if Father Moore wouldn’t agree to the deal, (b) keep the truth about the exorcism away from the jury and public.

Of course, against self-professed agnostic Bruner, the prosecutor (Campbell Scott) is a religious prick who teaches Sunday school and sings in the church choir. He is such a prissy antagonist that your sympathies go straight to Bruner. Through the court case, we are shown Emily Rose’s ordeal. Emily sees the demons lurking in the souls of people. Her body is under siege. The demons will not allow her to eat. They beat her up.

Bruner has a hard time getting around selling “demon possession” to a jury, but soon she starts feeling she too is being harassed by elemental dark forces. Bruner finally finds an anthropologist (Shoreh Agdashloo) who has studied possession in primitive cultures. (This is a perfect place to recommend a work I consider a textbook: “Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession” by I. M. Lewis). Just when Bruner is losing the case, the medical doctor in attendance at the exorcism comes forward. He’s afraid, but will testify.

Unlike that other famous exorcism film, this one is more analytical and smart: This is primarily a legal movie so our intelligent lawyers are forced to argue epilepsy versus possession. Emily Rose is tortured but hardly violent to her family. The screenwriters, director Scott Derrickson and Paul Harris Boardman, obviously did a great deal of research; however, the speed of Emily Rose’s absolute deterioration, and focus on the trial, leaves us wondering why the demons would want to kill the host.

Obviously, I find the subject fascinating and THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE is well done and satisfying. The trail’s outcome, while not following the case, is realistic. Derrickson, doesn’t allow cheap thrills and too many creaking doors. Instead, Emily Rose’s possession is more physical than psychological. Wilkinson is convincing and sincere, while Linney works her standard facial expressions. A few of us complained that Linney suddenly appeared to have starlet white-hot hair every time she is in her bedroom, but is a sedate ash blond in the courtroom.

*A footnote after the film says her gravesite is now a “shrine” visited by people who consider Anneliese Michel, aka “Emily Rose,” a saint for enduring demonic possession as a sacrifice benefiting others.

**The priests and parents of Anneliese Michel were found guilty of negligent manslaughter and omitting first aid. They served six months in jail.