THE POSSESSION

Director: Ole Bernedal (15)
Scsreenplay: Juliet Snowden, Stiles White
Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Natasha Calis
Fear the demon that doesn't fear God

Exorcism films have always struck a nerve with me.  

I can remember the uneasy excitement I felt the first time I watched The Exorcist. It introduced me to a type of horror that I hadn’t experienced before. It was slow, it was purposeful and it was dead serious. No masked killers, no horror clichés. It was all about atmosphere. It showed that you don’t need multiple death scenes and gore to frighten an audience.

Since then we have been treated (maybe treated is the wrong word) to a whole host of Exorcism related movies that have, generally speaking, failed to live up to William Friedkin’s masterpiece.



The Possession, whilst not a complete failure, falls into this category also.

Produced by Sam Raimi and claiming to be based on true events, The Possession is actually nothing of the sort. The film was inspired by a so called Dibbuk Box that was sold on ebay several years previously. None of the actual events of the film are based on anything real. It’s a ploy that is used more and more in horror these days and something which ultimately, has to be taken with a pinch of salt.



The story centres on Emily, who is having a tough time coping with her parents’ divorce. But these problems are soon overshadowed when she purchases an old wooden box (the Dibbuk) at a yard sale. It’s designed not to be opened (And for a good reason it turns out!). But Emily develops an obsession with it and one night manages to prise it open.

Big mistake.



To its credit, The Possession does try to be a little different from the rest. It replaces the well-worn Christian mythology with the Hebrew take on demons and spirits. And The Dibbuk is another interesting concept that we have not seen on our screens before. Plus the voice that emanates from the box itself is pretty creepy!



The acting from the two leads, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Natasha Calis also improve proceedings. Dean Morgan plays the troubled father perfectly whilst Calis excels in a role which must have been extremely challenging to say the least. Danish director Ole Bornedal creates a visually cold, grey and sparse environment on screen and the sound and abrupt editing is at times, reminiscent of horror from the seventies.



The scares themselves are generally too tame. That’s not to say that there is no atmosphere at all, but the film never really delivers as it threatens to.  There are a couple of neat scenes that will make audiences squirm (the fingers in the throat thing in particular) but ultimately, horror clichés begin to take over and the third act lapses into formulaic territory.

The Possession never strays too far from what is expected and plot twists are few and far between. It is also guilty of failing to challenge and engage the audience during the entirety of the film and this results in a rather limp and lacklustre final twenty minutes. The ending is also a trifle too predictable.



By no means a complete failure, The Possession deserves some credit for attempting an original take on an Exorcism movie but scratch beneath the surface and there isn’t much to it. Eerie at times, but never more than this. It’s Drag Me To Hell without a sense of humour. 

Friedkin and co. having nothing to fear. The Exorcist is still King.