The Possession (2012)

Released 31^st August 2012, Distributed by Lionsgate, Cert: 15

Director: Ole Bornedal. Writers: Juliet Snowdon & Stiles White

Cast: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgwick, Natasha Kalis, Madison Davenport, Grant Snow & Matisyahu

Plot Summary:

A newly divorced father settling in to his new home buys his youngest daughter an antique box at a yard sale. Soon his daughter is showing disturbing signs of obsession with the box and once opened a dark, malevolent spirit is released that threatens to consume this young girl and tear her family further apart....

Review:

Sam Raimi presents. These words will either inspire confidence or caution depending on what you think of his body of work and whilst Raimi is, in theory only lending his name to this picture, his fingerprints as producer are all over this movie, from the use of the camera during the set pieces down to the scare-stings incorporated in the music.

Possession is a theme that Raimi is clearly very fond of and comfortable with and in Ole Bornedal has found a director who clearly shares this passion (Bornedal having made a name for himself in Denmark directing a variety of creepy genre movies)

The opening scene depicting the previous owner of the ‘Dibbuk box’ and the power for evil that it contains is a introduction to this film’s world, full of snap cuts and jarring camera work, disorientating the viewer as a middle aged woman is thrown around the room by an invisible force for daring to try to destroy the box.

The film jettisons this style of camera work and effects for much of the movie, apart from a scene depicting the death of teacher who poses an obstacle to the demon getting what it wants and of course the obligatory final reel exorcism. What this does allow Borendal to do is to impose his own visual style on the film which owes a lot to the family based horror movies of the seventies such as The Exorcist or The Amityville Horror.

Natasha Kalis impresses as Em, the box obsessed daughter who grows rapidly pale and dark-eyed as the demon takes its hold. In a scene where she terrorises her would be step-father with some rather disturbing dental work, Kalis is genuinely chilling. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is as ever solid in a role we have seen a hundred times before – the father who suspects something is wrong but is ignored until it is (almost) too late. Hint - if your kid starts acting weird and your house is attacked by bugs, get the hell out, see a priest or rabbi and burn the damn box!

The camera work is excellent as you would expect. Rarely static, but not so obtrusive as to be a distraction the camera pulls the viewer in and adds to an overwhelming sense of dread that building throughout the film to a big scare could happen at any moment.

Unfortunately, this is where the film is ultimately undone. That big scare never really hits. There are just far too few moments that transcend creepy in to being genuinely scary. An early scene involving moths has a very deliberate ‘ick’ factor, but the film relies far too heavily on loud noises and a very overpowering score to tell you when you should be afraid.

In reality, there is very little to suggest why this film was given a rating of 15 given the lack of gore or true horror. In fact Sam Raimi’s film, Drag Me To hell in spite of its comedic leanings and gleeful approach to demons had far more to scare and disgust the audience and received the same certificate. Yet The Woman in White, which has terrified many a Harry Potter fan received a 12A.

Overall, apart from introducing Jewish theology (and a role for Jewish musician Matisyahu) to the exorcism party, The Possession brings very little new the genre. It’s a solid chiller that will serve as a date night alternative to superheroes and talking teddy bears but one that will be easily forgotten, unless of course you have an antique box in your bedroom.........

6 out of 10

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