by SARAH ROWLAND

There is not a single thing wrong with The Exorcism of Emily Rose. It's intelligent, artfully rendered in parts and depending on how much coffee you have in your system, it can even make you jump in your seat from time to time. But if you're looking for the kind of bone-chilling terror that The Exorcist evokes with each viewing, this understated horror will be a bit of a letdown.

Erin Bruner (Laura Linney) is a lonely but incredibly ambitious junior lawyer who is still basking in the media attention she earned by getting a serial killer off on a technicality - a victory she hopes will make her a partner. But despite all she's done to raise the profile of her firm, her boss (Colm Feore, who played Pierre in Trudeau) wants her to take one for the team and represent Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson), a Catholic priest accused of negligent death.

Moore's case is weak because of all the medical evidence that suggests his parishioner Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) did not need an exorcism, but rather some heavy meds to help combat a rare form of psychotic epilepsy. Hungry for a promotion, Erin proceeds, and through eyewitness testimony (and plenty of flashbacks), we see how Emily went from being a biblethumping freshman to a spider-eating demon vessel.

Director Scott Derrickson seems determined (almost to a fault) not to sensationalize the actual case Emily Rose was loosely based on. There's just a little too much courtroom drama and not enough scare tactics. His cast is a perfect reflection of this dignified approach to horror filmmaking. Take Carpenter, for instance: she lip-syncs her death metal frontman growls quite convincingly, but Linda Blair she is not. And though Linney is always dependable (You Can Count on Me, Kinsey), she's never mind-blowing. What she lacks in onscreen charisma, however, she makes up for with integrity. Even when the devil comes a-knocking at three in the morning, she never even so much as nibbles at the scenery. Along with her cast and crew, Linney doesn't have anything to be ashamed about here; she just doesn't have anything to be overly proud about either.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose opens Friday, Sept. 9

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