Review of The Possession (2012) by Andrew D — 18 Feb 2013

During a period where horror movies are nothing but blood, guts, and jump scares, The Possession tries to hearken back to the days where horror movies were scary because of suspense. The Possession stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Clyde, a divorced father of two daughters who's trying to balance his career and broken family wife.

During one of his weekends with the kids, they come across a yard sale where a mysterious box with Hebrew markings is sitting. Clyde buys it for his daughter, Em, who's taken a liking to the box. However, after Em figures out how to open it, her moods begin to change and only the help of a Rabbi can help restore her to her old self.

Looking back to when this first came out, I was quite excited to see The Possession. It looked like it would be a great callback to The Exorcist, which is one of my favorite horror movies. After seeing the movie, I couldn't help but feel that this film pretty much is The Exorcist with many key changes like the key religion that's observed (Judaism).

There were so many scenes in the film that matched the plot elements of The Exorcist, particularly the fact that the demon has taken the body of an innocent little girl (just like Reagen in Exorcist).

However, regardless of almost scene for scene reshots, I had a decent time with this film. There are some creepy and inventive images that are created in the film. There's one in particular that I don't think will be out of my mind for a while because it was so horrifying.

Also, the acting (while not flawless) is pretty good. Jeffrey Dean Morgan does a pretty good job as Clyde and the little girl does pretty well as Em, particularly in her possessed state. Plus, there's some pretty good suspense in the film to boot.

It's paced pretty well and makes the ending, while not perfect, pretty satisfying. The Possession is a pretty decent little horror film to rent if you're up for a scary movie. Just heed my warning when I tell you that there is nothing in this film that you haven't already seen before.