Review of The Possession (2012) by Tom R — 15 Jan 2013

(3 Stars) I feel like there's a really good movie trapped in The Possession, much like the Jewish demon in the little girl in this movie. It has good actors (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgwick) playing likable enough characters in a really bad situation. There are some genuinely creepy parts that would have stayed with you after you watch the movie... had they been handled correctly. Instead, there's a lot of unintentional humor in the film: from the audio jump cuts to the goofy editing to the overbearing soundtrack to the kinda-disturbing-but-more-funny scares.

I think director Ole Bornedal actually has talent, but I'm unsure how this movie got so funny. Maybe it's because we've seen this movie before, so it feels more like a parody of The Exorcist, which this movie is drawing a lot of comparisons to. I certainly don't hate The Possession, but I can't really take it seriously. It's certainly a lot better than a lot of exorcism films and horror remakes though.