Considering my appreciation for horror movies, I wouldn’t normally rank the ‘possession’ subgenre as one of my favorites. I’d sooner go for something psychological, a traditional Gothic horror experience or just something trashy to make me laugh. However, I am not the only horror fan in the house and I often go with house rules when deciding what to watch for the evening. After watching The Possession of Michael King and being rather disappointed by it, my girlfriend recommended another possession film she had seen years ago. She remembered it as a decent entry in the possession sub-genre of horror with a focus on a subject matter that isn’t covered all that often in the genre. So, we watched The Possession, a movie with a title that seems extremely on-the-nose and uninspired until you consider The Exorcist and the fact that it was a movie good enough to spawn the entire sub-genre. So, could it be worth forgiving the somewhat uninteresting name?

Pros

Decent acting from the cast
A more unique circumstance to the possession and the spirit involved
Spends a fair amount of time trying to get you to like certain characters and dislike others and is mostly successful

Cons

Not doing anything out of the ordinary in the storytelling or with the character archetypes
Effects have not aged well in some spots

Plot & Thoughts

Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) has picked up his daughters, Emily (Natasha Calis) and Hannah (Madison Davenport), from their mom’s house and brought them to his new home for the weekend. Clyde’s been a workaholic dad who used to coach basketball teams in the major leagues and is starting to see his career take off again. He’s still trying to repair his relationships with his daughters and his ex-wife, Stephanie (Kyra Sedwick), but his old tendencies of ignoring his family for the sake of his career continue to rear their heads.

One weekend, Clyde and his daughters are out and about and he brings them to a yard sale where Emily finds a mysterious-looking box. She also happens to see a woman through the windows while shopping who, unbeknownst to her, was attacked and mangled by the spirit within the box. Despite the ominous figure in the window, the mysterious whispers in the air, the complicated locks on the box, and all other obvious or vague warning signs, Emily brings home the box and opens it. Nothing happens at first, but as the title of the movie suggests, the spirit that was ‘trapped’ within the box is unleashed and decides to haunt and possess young Emily. From there, more drama unfolds in the already-torn family, some moments are misconstrued or improperly communicated, and it quickly becomes your run-of-the-mill possession movie.

In most cases, if a movie I happened to watch was bland or uninspired, I wouldn’t bother writing a review, unless it was so remarkably unremarkable that it was worth discussing, or unless I had absolutely nothing else to write about. In a lot of ways, The Possession is as uninspired as its title suggests. I still ended up liking it more than The Possession of Michael King (TPMK) as a viewing experience, and yet I have to give TPMK credit for taking a bigger risk. I don’t want to dwell on TPMK since it’s not the movie I’m reviewing, and I already said my piece about it. However, I have to mention that, even though I like The Possession more, it was a movie that has given me more appreciation for one I didn’t like, due to its own blandness.

All that being said, despite the fact that I’ve called it bland, there are several things I still like about The Possession. For one thing, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is very good at maintaining your interest on the screen and Clyde comes across as a compelling character as a result. I don’t think the character of Clyde is that compelling on his own, but the actor does a good enough job to make you care, which helps a great deal. Both of the child actors are very good in their roles and Kyra Sedwick is good at making Stephanie a sympathetic, but condescending bitch. If you haven’t caught on, the main strength of this movie is the acting of its main and supporting cast. The Possession is not an original film with a compelling plot or unique set of characters, but the actors all have enough charisma to keep you engaged anyway.

Another thing to note about The Possession is that it also takes a bit of inspiration from Jewish folklore. While Jewish culture is certainly prominent in movies, horror is not the genre that typically has many instances of Judaism or any legends associated with it. The most notable entry I can think of is The Golem, which consists of three silent films, and two of which have been lost. It’s a culture full of legends and stories that’s ripe for horror. In this particular case, it’s a Jewish demon and the exorcism requires more than your typical priest.

Even though The Possession is making use of a less common legend in horror, it’s still following the same formula as other movies like it. One of my problems with these types of movies is that you can pretty much swap out the characters, the demons, and the scenes and you still end up with the same movie, more or less. The same is true here: After the girl’s possession reaches extreme levels, Clyde seeks out religious counsel, an exorcist offers to help, the people who didn’t believe it start to come around, and everything culminates in one big exorcism scene. The Exorcist did these sorts of things too, but the effects and moments were more convincing and effective at being unsettling and scary, as well as making the stories of the characters more compelling through the use of subtlety and well-written dialog. Movies try to mimic this by following in The Exorcist’s footsteps but fail to achieve the same level of greatness for one reason or another. That is pretty much how The Possession comes across as a decent attempt at the same thing, but nothing more.

TL;DR (Conclusion)

The Possession is a perfectly watchable and enjoyable horror movie that runs through very familiar territory, so long as you temper your expectations. The acting and a few particular moments help keep the movie interesting, despite its shortcomings. It doesn’t do anything new or special to move the possession sub-genre forward, but it also is not a painful experience by any stretch.

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