exorcism

(See Review Below)

Anneliese: the Exorcist Tapes is a 2011 documentary based movie that melodramatically re-creates the events surrounding a 23 years old German girl by the name of Anneliese Michel. Towards her last years alive, her parents and the Catholic Church believed she was possessed by demons. There is still a great debate regarding this issue and the medical community squarely believes it was a medical condition that led to her painful life. The 2005 film “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” based some of its plot structure on Michel’s story, but not the demonic possession.

Anneliese The Exorcist Tapes – Movie Overview

Upon the start of the film viewers are told that the footage they are going to see is in fact real and that no editing has been done. People who know the story of Anneliese will probably be informed about the tapes that were used in her court case and these are the tapes director Jude Gerard Priest wants people to believe they are watching. This might not have been the best decision, because it undermines the intelligence of the audience. For starters, what are the chances of Jude Priest actually getting his hands on the original tapes? The second problem is that viewers will probably notice that the tapes are fake within 5 minutes of watching. It’s unclear whether any real footage from the actual exorcisms is shown during the movie.

Looking at the plot of the movie, the story tries to stay true to the real events. Anneliese had undergone numerous hours of exorcism sessions and her symptoms did puzzle doctors at the time. However, no deaths actually occurred. Throughout the movie Anneliese experiences fits of rage, convulsions and other strange scenarios that are typically associated with the paranormal.

Whether the movie is good depends on personal opinion. Not everyone likes the handheld camera effect and for the most part audiences were very disappointed. The acting, directing, editing and just about everything else lacks a great deal of depth and quality. Apart from promoting it as real, which can be considered a cheap stunt to get more attention, there are several irritating scenes. For example, there are sections where the scene is black and only the sound of what is happening can be heard. For horror movie fans this isn’t something that belongs in the collection.

Compared to the other film loosely based on Michel’s story entitled “Requiem”, this is the horror version. Where this film only focuses on the exorcisms “Requiem” took a more natural approach and looked at how Anneliese struggled to live a normal life. In fact, it provides a lot more medical evidence that would explain her condition, but it doesn’t draw any conclusions. The 2005 film “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” was only inspired by the court cases that followed the incident.

Anneliese Michel: The Real Story

Anneliese was born on September 21st 1952 in Bavaria, West Germany. She was considered a very a religious child and attended Mass at least twice a week. Unfortunately her problems started while she was still in the prime of her life, and from there it kept getting worse. At the age of 16 her first convulsion struck and according to medical records she was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. From that point on she became more reserved and withdrawn. In 1970 she suffered her third epileptic episode and she was already under psychiatric supervision when this happened. By the time she graduated in 1973 and started attending University she was regarded by her class-mates as one-sided and still very religious.

The nature of her symptoms kept getting worse. She began to see the face of the devil in addition to fighting hallucinations. When she prayed she would hear voices of demons and she continually withdrew from coming in contact with religious symbols. Medication and treatment failed her completely as her condition spiraled out of control and her parents came to the conclusion that she had to be possessed. A priest by the name of Arnold Renz was given permission by Bishop Josef Strangl to perform a highly secretive exorcism on Anneliese after another priest by the name of Ernst Alt told the family she couldn’t possibly be suffering from medical problems.

Anneliese believed that she was suffering for other people’s sin, and during the course of 10 months (1975 – 1976) she received 67 exorcism sessions based on the 400 year old Rituale Romanum. Regardless of all the sessions she kept getting worse and she insisted on dying. She stopped eating completely and on July 1st 1976 she finally gave into malnutrition and dehydration. She weighed 68 pounds when she died.

Her parents and the two priests were convicted of manslaughter, given the cause of her death. However, the state prosecutor felt that the parents have suffered enough and that the 6 months jail sentence given by the court was too harsh. Their sentence was later reduced to 3 years’ probation while the priests only received a fine. During the court case the tapes that were made during the exorcisms were played as evidence of how badly Anneliese was suffering.

Complete Naration of The Anneliese Michel Story

A Good Time to Watch this Movie?

If you are hosting a Halloween party or something along this line then it will be a nice touch to play this movie for background effect. The somewhat cheesy acting, the repetitive scenes, the strange screams and the “old” cameras will definitely create ambience in the style of Rob Zombie. However, if you want a movie that is entertaining and worth watching then this is probably not the movie to choose. Chances are you will be mad that you wasted your time and energy (see review below).

Was Anneliese Michel Really Possessed?

According to medical research Anneliese wasn’t possessed by actual demons and the lack of knowledge and treatment was her ultimate downfall. From a religious point of view, especially the Catholic Church, there was no doubt that several demons had invaded her body. In terms of the movie, it only mocks the terrible ordeal Anneliese and her family endured. There was a spontaneous fire incident that occurred in the house where she lived during 2013 and the police report stated that arson was the cause. However, certain individuals believed that it was a result of the demonic possession and everything that happened there.

Anneliese The Exorcist Tapes – Movie Review

Movie: Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes Year: 2011 Studio: The Global Asylum Director: Jude Gerard Prest Language: English, German Length: 91 Minutes Sub-Genre: Paranormal

Plot: Purporting to be real footage of an exorcism that inspired the blockbuster 1970s horror film, this feature observes a young woman in the throes of demonic possession. German Anneliese, 23, appears to exhibit signs of epilepsy, but soon the medical professionals called to her bedside are stumped by her symptoms. As the woman’s house becomes plagued by paranormal phenomena, a priest is called upon to exorcise the evil spirit.

Review: Were starting off with a doozy here on Horror Palace. The opening goes through a montage claiming that the movie you are about to see is real footage, undoctored. I immediately was turned off with that, not because they started the movie that way, but for the reason, if you don’t know me yet, I loathe found footage style, handheld horror movies.

While the filmmakers were trying to pull off this “real factor” you have to deal with three types of cameras, effects and editing nightmare. You get B&W footage from corner cams, a VHS camcorder, and even an old-time tape recorder, with fake lines, snowy screens and jumping frames.

I guess I should talk about the movie some before I keep on ranting how bad it is. The story is one where a girl gets possessed while the clergy and doctors fight amongst themselves on the best treatment. While the arguing is happening, Anneliese (Nikki Muller), exudes strange behavior such as convulsions, anger, eating insects and other things really not worth mentioning.

People do end up dying, which is rare for possession films, but the acting is really poor and unbelievable. This story happens over weeks, where each day they cut away to filming the doctor’s notes which is horrible. If that isn’t enough, several times in the film they play only recorded audio with a blank, black screen, where you hear Anneliese talking in tongues with many different voices.

Suffice it to say that this is one terrible rip-off on a documentary that claims The Exorcism Of Emily Rose was based off of this. This girl Anneliese Michel was supposedly a real person with a bizarre tale. All I see is another knock-off of The Exorcist trying to gain viewership by going the route of “true events” bologna. While I always give horror movies credit they deserve no matter how small it may be, Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes has nothing good about it.

Reviewed by BillChete Rating: 1/10 Recommendation: Avoid