JR Bourne

FAMILY, LOVE, SECRETS. BETRAYAL. A blushing bride, a determined groom, a treacherous best man and an overbearing matriarch, fighting against a ticking clock of deep dark secrets that threaten to end this wealthy family.

In an extremely rare decision, the Catholic Church officially recognized the demonic possession of the 19 year-old college freshman. Told in flashbacks, The Exorcism of Emily Rose chronicles the haunting trial of the priest accused of negligence resulting in the death of the young girl who is believed to be possessed and the lawyer who takes on the task of defending him. Lawyer Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) takes on the church and the state when she fights in defense of a priest, Father Richard Moore (Tom Wilkinson) who performed an exorcism on a young woman, Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter). Bruner must battle the state lawyer as well as her own loneliness, as she realizes that her career so far has not fulfilled her. She takes the case, albeit reluctantly, because she believes it will elevate her to senior partner at her law firm. The priest agrees to let her defend him only if he is allowed to tell Emily's story. The trial begins with the calling of several medical experts by the prosecutor, Ethan Thomas (Campbell Scott). One expert (Kenneth Welsh) testifies that Emily was suffering from both epilepsy and psychosis. The defense contests that she may have actually been possessed, though Bruner is careful never to say that in so many words initially. Indeed Bruner explains that Emily was suffering from something that neither medicine nor psychology could explain, and that Father Moore as well as her family realized this and tried to help in another way. Several flashbacks show how this began. Alone in her dorm room one night, at 3:00 AM, she smells a strange burning smell from the hallway. When she checks on it, she sees the door open and shut by itself several times. When she goes back to her room, she sees a jar of pencils and pens move by itself. Additionally, her covers roll themselves down, and a great weight seems to press down on her, a force which also proceeds to choke her and seemingly to possess her momentarily. Through these episodes she wonders if they are really happening or if it is just a hallucination she is experiencing. She suffers more "visions", is hospitalized, and diagnosed with epilepsy. She is given anti-seizure medications which she claims do not work. Her visions continue, as do her severe bodily contortions. She leaves school and returns to live with her parents. She and her parents become convinced she is not epileptic or mentally ill but is possessed by demons. They ask for their local parish priest to be called in to perform an exorcism, and the Church agrees. The prosecution counters that all this could be explained by a combination of epilepsy (the contortions) and psychosis (the visions). Meanwhile, Bruner begins to experience strange occurrences in her apartment at 3:00 AM, including strange smells and sounds. Father Moore warns her that she may be targeted by demons for possibly exposing them. Later in the film Father Moore explains that 3:00 AM is the "witching hour" which evil spirits use to mock the Holy Trinity. Significantly, it is the opposite of 3:00 PM, traditionally taken to be the hour at which Jesus died. Seeing that the prosecution is putting up a seemingly solid medical case, Bruner decides to try to show that Emily may have actually been possessed. She calls in an anthropologist, Dr. Sadira Adani (Shohreh Aghdashloo), to testify about various cultures' beliefs about spiritual possession. Graham Cartwright (Duncan Fraser), a medical doctor present during the exorcism, comes forward to reveal an audio tape made during the rite. The priest is then called to the stand to testify. The tape is played and the movie then flashes back to the exorcism. It is performed on Halloween night because Father Moore believes it might be easier to draw out the demons on that night. The priest, Emily's boyfriend Jason (Joshua Close), and her father (Andrew Wheeler) are in the room. Emily is tied to the bed. The priest uses holy water and various words from the Rituale Romanum. She speaks in tongues, including Latin, German, Ancient Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Several of the family's pet cats run into the room, jumping on the priest and knocking him down. Emily breaks her ties and jumps out the window, running into the barn. They follow her. Inside the barn, they are subjected to more supernatural phenomena such as unnatural gusts of wind and demonic screams and voices. The demon inside Emily refuses to name itself after repeated demands from the presiding Father but finally reveals contemptuously that there are not one but six demons. They go on to identify themselves in dramatic fashion, naming themselves one after another in dual voices from Emily. They identify themselves as the demons that possessed Cain, Nero, and Judas Iscariot and one of the Legion. Beyond that two demons name themselves directly as Belial, and "Lucifer, the devil in the flesh." The film returns to the courtroom. The priest says that after this, Emily refused another exorcism but also refused to take her anti-psychotic medication, having accepted her fate. She died a few weeks later. The prosecutor contends that her speaking in tongues can be explained by her having gone through Catholic Catechism, in which she could have learned the ancient languages, and that she had studied German in high school. The priest admits that it might be possible that she could have learned these languages in school. Bruner then wants to call the doctor as a witness, but he does not show up. She walks outside and sees him on the street. He says he can no longer testify, but he does believe in demons. Before he can explain he is hit by a car and killed. Later that night Bruner's boss tells her she has ruined the whole trial and that if she recalls the priest to the stand she will be fired. Nevertheless, Bruner calls the priest back to the stand the next day. He reads a letter that Emily wrote him before she died. In the letter Emily describes another vision she had, the morning after the exorcism. She walks out of the house and sees the Virgin Mary, who tells her that although the demons will not leave her, she can leave her body and end her suffering. However, the apparition goes on to say, if she returns to her body she will help to prove to the world that God and the Devil are real. She chooses to return. She concludes the letter by saying "People say that God is dead, but how can they think that if I show them the Devil?" She then receives stigmata, which the priest believes is a sign of God's love for her, but the prosecution counters that she could have received the stigmata wounds from a barbed wire fence on her property. Father Moore is ultimately found guilty; however, on a recommendation from the jury, the judge agrees to a sentence of time served. (In modern American legal practice, juries are only allowed to answer questions specifically directed to them, though sometimes they are asked separately to sentence defendants. The jury's recommendation in this fictional case does not follow American practice.) Bruner is offered a partnership at her firm for saving Father Moore from extended jail time, but she refuses and in fact quits. She goes with Father Moore to Emily's grave, where he has put a quote (which she recited to him the day before she died) from the second chapter twelfth verse of Philippians on her grave: "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling".

The film begins with a brief summary of the Northern Legion Trading Company, stating that each spring a party from the fort traveled to Hudson Bay to trade pelts for winter provisions but in 1815 the party never returned. This is when the story begins.... The year is 1897, over 100 years before the first 'Ginger Snaps' movie. Brigitte and Ginger are lost with their horse in the rugged Canadian wilderness when they come across a seemingly abandoned camp that bears signs of a violent attack. They then notice an elderly Indian woman, who tells them that she too had a sister once, and gives Ginger and Brigitte each a necklace with a bird's skull that belonged to her and her sister. The woman speaks of them as the red and black, and warns that unless they "kill the boy" one sister will kill the other. Suddenly the girls' horse is startled and flees; they try to chase it, but Brigitte's foot gets caught in a trap set by an Indian hunter. Ginger goes back to the camp to find the Indian woman, but the hunter arrives before Ginger returns. The girls view him as a threat until he releases Brigitte and leads them to Fort Bailey where they take refuge. Ginger claims they are the daughters of a trader who drowned, seeking passage East. The men there are suspicious of them, but the sisters are permitted to stay. The fort has been under siege by werewolves for some time. The sisters are taken to the doctor, Murphy, who inspects Brigitte's wound. Murphy applies a leech, surreptitiously testing to see if a werewolf bit her. As nothing happens to her, Wallace knows they're safe. The sisters are still treated with suspicion, particularly by Reverend Gilbert who views the girls as temptation and harbingers of sin. They are given a room that belonged to James's son Geoffrey, and informed he is dead along with James's Indian wife. There are toy wolves and soldiers in the room, set up to be fighting each other. That night Ginger is awakened by a voice and goes to investigate. Wandering the corridors she eventually finds the source of the voice, and enters a small, bolted unlit room; reaching out to a deformed boy, who turns and bites her as he flees. Ginger and Brigitte try to leave the fort, but one of the men, James, confronts them. While Ginger and James are fighting, werewolves attack, killing one of their men. The sisters are led by Reverend Gilbert to an allegedly safe building, which actually contains a werewolf. The sisters run up the stairs chased by the werewolf, but the hunter appears and kills it. As Ginger and Brigitte are going to their room Ginger's nose starts to bleed; a sign that she is infected. The sisters discover the boy who bit Ginger is Wallace's son Geoffrey, whom everyone else believes to be dead. As Ginger sleeps he sneaks into the bedroom and wakes her. She tries to grab him but he gets away, taking a lock of her hair. One of the men investigates the noise and is killed by Geoffrey. The others find the body with the lock of Gingers hair beside it and drag Ginger away while James holds Brigitte captive. Wallace arrives, dismisses James, and makes a deal with Brigitte; her sister's life in exchange for their silence regarding his son. Wallace and Brigitte find Ginger at the doctor's, strapped to the examination table and held at gunpoint, about to be tested with a leech. When Wallace demands they release Ginger, Murphy ignores the order and approaches Ginger with the leech. Wallace shoots him dead, prompting the other men to leave. Ginger is determined to kill the boy to lift the curse but when she traps Geoffrey, he escapes and is captured instead by the men. Wallace arrives and kills his son himself. The sisters' protection at an end, Ginger is forced to leave, and Brigitte goes with her. Desperate for a cure, the sisters go to the hunter's cave, Ginger killing their guide shortly before they arrive. At the cave, the hunter and Indian seer woman reveal the sisters' coming had long been prophesied and that the Red and the Black would decide the destiny of the werewolf bloodline. After Brigitte is put in a trance-like state she has a vision of her destiny; she sees the hunter attempting to kill Ginger, and then kills her sister herself. As Brigitte emerges from the trance she finds the seer is dead, killed by Ginger, who has fled. The hunter leads Brigitte back to the fort, assuring her Ginger will return. Back at the fort, Brigitte is taken prisoner. Gilbert goes to her, telling her to beg forgiveness to save her soul; Brigitte curses, spitting in his face. Gilbert drags her out onto the parade square, and prepares to burn her alive. He is interrupted by Wallace who runs Gilbert through with his sword before setting him on fire. James engages Ginger in a fight and she slashes his throat. As he falls to the ground bleeding to death, Ginger opens the gates and ushers in all the werewolves who immediately attack and kill two of the men. Wallace is soon bitten and sets the fort on fire before killing himself. The hunter urges Brigitte to kill her sister; instead, Brigitte kills the hunter and flees with her sister. The film ends with only Ginger and Brigitte left alive, huddled in the snow in the woods back where the movie began. Brigitte then holds out her hand and presses a cut on it against a cut on Ginger's hand, mingling their blood, and infecting Brigitte... both sisters are now doomed to become werewolves. As the screen fades out, Brigitte's voice says: "The day of reckoning; the day the curse grew stronger in the Red and the Black. Sisters united in blood, together forever."

Ghost hunter Cyrus Kriticos (F. Murray Abraham) and assistant Dennis Rafkin (Matthew Lillard) lead a team on a mission to capture a spirit, called the Juggernaut, in a junkyard. Several of the men are killed during the ensuing fight, including Cyrus himself. However, the team is able to catch the ghost. Arthur Kriticos (Tony Shalhoub), a mathematician who is also a widower, is informed by the estate lawyer of his uncle Cyrus, Benjamin Moss (JR Bourne), that he has inherited a mansion. Arthur and his financially insecure family plan to move into this mansion with his two children, Kathy (Shannon Elizabeth) and Bobby (Alec Roberts). Their babysitter/nanny Maggie (Rah Digga) accompanies the family. Dennis Rafkin, disguised as a power company employee, meets the family and Benjamin as they tour the mansion. The residence is made almost entirely of glass. It contains Latin phrases etched on floors and movable glass walls, along with priceless artefacts. Arthur and his family are eager about inheriting this new home, and while Arthur is discussing financial matters with the attorney, Kathy and Bobby venture off on their own to explore the mansion. After seeing several ghosts in the basement, Dennis frantically runs upstairs to warn Arthur about the home he is about to own. Benjamin assures Arthur that Dennis is crazy and should be ignored. Dennis tells Arthur that there are twelve spirits are imprisoned in the house, held captive by the spells written throughout the residence. Benjamin Moss is seen sneaking off to collect a valise of money which was intended to be payment. However, upon taking the money, he activates a mechanism set up by Cyrus that seals the entrance and releases the ghosts, one by one. Consequently, Moss encounters one of them, the Angry Princess, and backs up into an open doorway, which snaps shut and slices him in half. Later the existence of ghosts is proven to the skeptical Arthur, when he witnesses an attack on his daughter by the ghost known as the Jackal. Bobby, the younger of the two children, disappears after getting separated from Maggie and he wanders into the basement. There he encounters several spirits, including the Torso and the Bound Woman. Arthur manages to find Kathy, and the two battle the Jackal. Kalina Oretzia (Embeth Davidtz), a spirit liberator, helps Arthur free Kathy from the Jackal's grip, only to be lost again a few moments later. After this, Arthur's objective is clear - to find his children and leave this house as soon as possible. This becomes problematic for two reasons: only those equipped with special glasses are able to see the ghosts; and the walls continue to shift, making navigation difficult. Kalina explains that this is not a house - it is a complex machine built by Cyrus, known as the "Ocularis Infernum" (Eye of Hell.) Created by the Devil and powered by the dead, once completed, this demonic device would allow its user to see into the future. To Arthur's horror, he discovers one of the ghosts powering this machine is the spirit of his dead wife, Jean. Kalina goes on to tell Arthur that his children are in grave danger, and the only way to ensure their successful return is to offer his soul in exchange. If Arthur takes his place as the 13th ghost, his sacrifice of pure love would combat all of the evil contained within the machine, thus shutting it down. Cyrus is revealed to be alive, having faked his death in order to lure Arthur to the house; Kalina turns out to be his secret partner and lover, and knocks Maggie unconscious. Cyrus has orchestrated the previous events, including the abduction of Kathy and Bobby, so that Arthur will become the 13th ghost not to stop the machine, as Kalina had claimed, but to trigger it. Cyrus then turns on Kalina and crushes her between two glass walls, claiming "greatness requires sacrifice." Arthur and Dennis make another attempt to save Kathy and Bobby with the help of a detached wall. Facing the Hammer, Dennis pushes Arthur into a corner where he is then protected by the wall, sacrificing his own life in the process. After combating the Hammer, Dennis finds himself cornered by the angry spirit and the newly released Juggernaut; he is brutally beaten and dies when the Juggernaut breaks him in half. Trapped behind the glass, Arthur is visited by Jean's ghost. Then, all the ghosts disappear from the basement, responding to a tape-recorded summons played by Cyrus. Kathy and Bobby have been placed at the center of a set of whirling, razor-sharp rings. Arthur and Cyrus have a violent confrontation , which is interrupted by the sound of Maggie beginning to destroy the machine. Due to this breakdown in equipment, the ghosts are released from their trance. All the ghosts except Jean immediately grab Cyrus, and hurl him into the spinning rings. Dennis' ghost then appears, telling Arthur to go to his kids. Waiting for a break in the razor rings, Arthur jumps to save his children, making the leap without dying. The house's glass walls shatter, releasing the spirits from captivity. A peacful-looking Jean lingers briefly to say goodbye to her family, then departs with the others. The film ends with a battered Maggie walking through the wreckage yelling, "I quit!"