**TL DR Horror films based on real experiences should be handled more sensitively.** Horror is an expansive and highly profitable genre. As of 2020 three of the top ten most profitable films were horror films: Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project and The Exorcist.(1) In addition to being the highest grossing horror film for over forty years; The Exorcist has also been recognised as having significant cultural influence.(2) As such, it has many imitators. One particularly notable example is the 2005 film “The Exorcism of Emily Rose”. Where The Exorcist is certain, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is ambiguous. PluggedIn (3) and IMDb (4) respectively observe: “while not overtly violent, the spasms and contortions of Emily’s body are quite disturbing” and “throughout the movie there are unsettling scenes of a possessed girl with her body contorted in positions that are not natural“. There is no head spinning; bloody statues or levitation. This is arguably because the film is loosely based on a true story. Anneliese Michel died in 1976 of dehydration and malnutrition at the age of 23.(6,7) Five years prior to her death she had been diagnosed with and prescribed medication for epilepsy; in the intervening years she struggled both her epilepsy and her mental health. Her death came after a yearlong series of exorcisms after her family stopped seeking medical treatment. (6) Exorcism exists in many forms and in many faiths. In the Catholic Church it can exist as a rite of the sort described here- but it can also take the form of prayers, psalms and litanies to be said by the unordained. Prayer; and perhaps even exorcism in this form, can provide some people with comfort. (8) That is fair and no one should be disparaged for it. ¬¬¬¬¬However in this case it exacerbated the illness of a vulnerable person and contributed to- or arguably, resulted in- her death. The film is less about the exorcism itself and more about the clash of faith and science that occurred in the aftermath. It is open ended: ultimately no conclusion are drawn as to whether or not it was natural or supernatural. The film ends with the question hanging over the audience: a challenge to believers and sceptics alike. (9) This was an immense personal tragedy; experienced a very real human who could have no input on the narrative presented because she died. This is by definition exploitative. Regardless of whether it is to challenge viewer’s preestablished beliefs or to shock, the film uses the actual suffering of one person as a tool to do so. More to the point- there are people alive today with the conditions Anneliese Michel was diagnosed with. Any fictionalised alignment of conditions like epilepsy with the demonic has the potential to influence opinion on a disorder which is still not entirely understood medically and arguably less so socially is supremely unhelpful. As observed by aforementioned reviews; it isn’t particularly violent or gory. Key to its horror is the contortion and twisting of Emily’s body. Carpenter says of her research for the role :” Just everything… books on epilepsy, seizures, Kabuki theater to see certain gestures and stuff, so I probably researched too much..”(10) Who likes to imagine that people might be afraid of them, and for something that can be a cause of personal pain? Will films like this dispel or entrench that misunderstanding? Dialogues are mental and neurological health are important but need to be expressed sensitively- not as a tool for shock or horror. 1. https://screenrant.com/most-profitable-movies-ever/ 2. https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2010/12/2010-national-film-registry-choices-exorcist-airplane-malcom-x-robert-redford.html 3. https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/exorcismofemilyrose/ 4. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404032/parentalguide?ref_=tt_ql_stry_5 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anneliese_Michel 6. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/04/21/cries-of-a-woman-possessed/94bf2fd3-8e64-482d-869d-1f929851ca8f/ 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Exorcisms_and_Certain_Supplications 8. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-secular-life/201909/does-prayer-work¬ 9. https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/art/the-making-of-the-exorcism-of-emily-rose.html 10. https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/09/08/interview-jennifer-carpenter Further reading: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/movies/g19738089/horror-movies-based-on-true-stories/ https://time.com/4087159/horror-movies-most-lucrative-franchises/ https://epilepsysociety.org.uk/about-epilepsy/what-epilepsy/epilepsy-facts-and-myths

**TL;DR - A main objective of horror films is to instil horror in the viewer and make the viewer feel in danger, invaded, and shaken, especially when the events are based on real life, which will give an extra feeling of directness to the intense fear that the viewer feels**. In 'On the Supernatural in Poetry' (1826), Ann Radcliffe talks about terror and horror in poetry, but her definition of these degrees of fear can be applied to other media as well. Radcliffe distinguished between horror and terror, associating terror with the feeling of imminent danger, and terror with something that comes too close to us and makes us freeze. This is exactly what horror films based on real life trigger, and the brutal content cannot be handled sensitively because of its very nature. For me, this is a significant different between the more subtle and mainly psychological thriller movies and the horror films. The content of the latter definitely creates this sense of aversion (take, for example, 'The Human Centipede', 2011-15), but this is the whole point, taking the viewer too close to the dark side of human nature and make one re-consider perception and identity. There films create a mixture of pleasure and pain which has to do with the intensity of experience, which causes horror but also pleasure, and there are people who find that these 'high levels of arousal like this are enjoyable' (*CSP*). Horror films based on real events are not for everyone and should not be chosen as viewing material from people who may be traumatised. However, this is related to choice and not content. Works Cited Radcliffe, Ann, 'On the Supernatural in Poetry', *The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal*, 16.1 (1826), 145-52 <http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/gothic/radcliffe1.html> [accessed 3 March 2021]. 'The Psychology of Fear: Exploring the Science behind Horror Entertainment' (2016) <https://online.csp.edu/blog/psychology/psychology-of-fear/> [accessed 3 March 2021].

Horror films based on real life events should always be careful in their portrayal of incidents. It would be insensitive, for example, to make dark comedies of movies which portray serious and terrifying real life crimes. However, audiences should always be aware that films are an art form and, although they may be influenced by real events, what is shown on screen is not intended to be a true-to-life recollection of events. People should remember that when films describe themselves as being 'based off true events’ they are not suggesting that the movie is a documentary. Horror films are primarily intended to do what all films do, evoke intense emotions in their audiences. They should not be concerned with producing a recreation of a real-life events, but they should strive to handle their content in a sensitive way to ensure that people understand that the film should not be taken as a documentary.