In 1973 “The Exorcist” was unleashed
upon the world and since then we have never been able to shake ourselves from
it. By taking old scary movie cliché’s and throwing them out of the window,
William Friedkin and William Peter Blatty changed horror forever and had set
the bar for that genre very, very high. What we have in the wake of that film
is “The Possession”, a formula chiller, based on the new cliché’s designed by
all of the subsequent Exorcist clones—in which there are legion.
Based on the supposed true
story—aren’t they always—“The Possession” stars a haggard looking Jeffrey Dean
Morgan as Clyde, a divorced college basketball coach with two pre-teen
daughters. His ex-wife, played by Kyra Sedgwick, has begun to move on and has
brought a replacement father into their old home. His daughters are still
hoping for reconciliation but with a possible career change in Clyde’s future,
that prospect seems even more unlikely.
One day while Clyde is trying to keep his kids entertained, they decide
to visit a yard sale near his new bachelor pad. His youngest daughter Emily,
played Natasha Calis, finds an antique wooden box, etched with a strange Hebrew
inscription. Over time Emily’s demeanor
begins to change, her room starts to occupy hordes of CGI moths and it is
discovered that an ancient Jewish demon, known as a Dybbuk, has begun to share
living space inside her body.
Too often are movies rarely any
more or less entertaining then their advertising. “The Possession” is a trite
and lazy film that does exactly what it promises and nothing else. Produced by Sam Raimi, who was once well
known for making horror movies outside of the box (The Evil Dead), this
treatment, directed by the Danish filmmaker Ole Bornedal, is so tethered to
CGI, digital color correction and an obstructive sound design, that the movies
core characters and themes seem to be forced from one special effects moment to another. What results is another one of
those drab, blue-grey, washed out horror movies where the score seems to be guiding
the audience more than the director.
What’s
more disappointing is that some of these performances are actually pretty good.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan strips away his
usual T.V star swagger for a more Javier Bardem-like sullenness. The two young actresses playing his
daughters, both the possessed one and normal one, are also very watchable. Toward the end of the first third, I found
myself more interested in the peripheral divorce story than the looming ghosty
plot that dominates the majority of the film. However, when hell literally
breaks loose, characters are forgotten, believability is compromised, and while
the movie replaces the R-rated bloody crucifix, for a PG-13 star of David, the
final act is still basically “The Exorcist” in a yamaka.
So even if it’s not original, how
does “The Possession” work as a horror film? Will you find it scary? I will
admit that there are some effective chills along way but structurally the movie
works as a series of scenes comprised of these exact beats: divorce is a bummer,
teenagers whining, something weird happens, tense music, the sound drops and
then the big jump-scare—rinse and then repeat.
Some of the imagery is fulfilling in its creepiness and there are a few
creative set-pieces that almost belong in a better movie. Ultimately if you want to be startled for a
couple hours but you don’t want to be challenged at all, then I suggest you wait a few years
and watch “The Possession” on basic cable.
Grade: C-
Originally Published by the Idaho State Journal/Sep-2012
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