Not another Exorcism movie . . .
The H-Bomb: Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Stephanie (Kyra Sedgwick) are a recently divorced couple who are doing the joint custody thing with their daughters, Em (Natasha Calis) and Hannah (Madison Davenport). Hannah is in her early teens and is starting to develop an F-you attitude towards her dad, while the younger daughter Em is ten and still sweet and spirited.
One day while spending the weekend with Clyde, they stop at a yard sale where Em finds an antique wooden box with strange writings engraved on it. We already know from the opening scene that this ugly old box is very, very bad news for whoever possesses of it, but since neither Clyde nor Em have any way of knowing that, he buys it for her. Em and this box become inseparable, as she opens it up and fiddles around with the odd old trinkets inside.
Unbeknownst to her, she’s released something out of the box . . . something not so nice, and things start to get a little nuts. First Clyde’s new house becomes infested with moths, then he starts to notice that Em is acting not quite like herself. She seems withdrawn, she’s been seen talking to her box, and she’s started eating like a horse. Clyde becomes particularly concerned when she stabs him in the hand with a fork. He tries to discuss all this with his ex, Stephanie, who simply dismisses it as Em being stressed from their divorce.
Clyde is unconvinced, and his doubts are reinforced as Em’s bizarre behavior escalates; freaking out and attacking anyone who touches her box, speaking in a voice that is not her own, and her face contorting in ways that just don’t seem natural, amongst many, many other abnormalities. After one of Em’s teachers, the one who was holding on to the box after one of her violent outbursts, turns up dead under suspicious circumstances, Clyde is certain that something is most definitely wrong with his daughter, and that box is at the center of it.
After doing some research, Clyde finds out that this box is a Dybbuk box, which according to Jewish legend, are used to contain disembodied spirits, both benevolent . . . and otherwise (i.e. fucking demons). Apparently when Em opened the box, she set loose this unfriendly entity and, well, now I refer you to the title of the film.
While all this seems obvious to Clyde, Stephanie isn’t buying it, as she thinks he’s the one who’s flipped his fucking lid, and has obtained a court order barring him from seeing either of his daughters. [Swift aside, ah, the government – is there to help, how nice] Now Clyde, with the help of a hip-hopping Hassidic Jew (Matisyahu), must find a way to save to save his daughter before this nasty little spirit takes over her body for good.
Well, I don’t know if it’s that the last film I reviewed, the similarly themed 11-11-11, was such a wretchedly rank pile of dog dookie, or that I was the only person in the theater when I went to see this, or what, but I found The Possession to be a surprisingly well-crafted and effective thriller. Now, as I’m sure I’ve said in the past, horror movies almost never actually scare me, and demonic possession/exorcism flicks have been a dime a dozen over the last few years (The Rite, The Last Exorcism, The Devil Inside, Insidious, Paranormal Activity), but I’ll be damned if I don’t admit that this one actually got to me, and did an admirable job of just totally creeping me the hell out. Thinking about it some more, I’m certain that being all alone in the theater played into this.
Like some others of its kind, The Possession purports to be based on a true story. In this case, an incident involving a Dybbuk that was sold on eBay. I normally dismiss such claims for the rooted-in-bullshit marketing ploys that they are, and this time is no different. But whereas most occasions I’ll hold something like that against a movie, here I’ll turn a blind eye since director Ole Bornedal did such a nice job establishing a slow building story, as well as delivering genuine scares with the spookier scenes, that I can forgive the deceptive advertising. The sequence where a teacher is stalked in her classroom late in the evening, and the scene in which Stephanie walks in on Em having a . . . midnight snack, just to name a couple, are, as rendered by Bornedal, creepy as fuck.
The earnest cast, led by the impeccably solid Morgan, also go a long way in selling the horror of the situation. When we meet Clyde, he’s a nice, laid back fellow with a good sense of humor. As things grow more dire, he becomes more flustered and desperate, not to mention terrified for/of Em, and Morgan plays that gradual progression perfectly. I’ve really liked him ever since his turn as the Comedian in Watchmen, and his performance here only affirms my belief that he deserves far more leading man roles than he gets.
But he’s not the only one who puts on a stellar show, as young Calis just kills it (in more ways than one) as Em. I wouldn’t say she’s as good as Linda Blair from The Exorcist, but I wouldn’t place her too far behind. When she would show up possessed, even when she’s doing nothing but standing and staring, she would make me quiver as my body temperature dropped. Watching an actor this young pull of a role this complex is something even this movie’s harsher critics will have to concede.
Sedgwick does what she can with the rather under-written and all-to-typical role of the “stupid skeptic” one often encounters in horror films. Her work is fine, but the character was annoying and clichéd. Speaking of cliché, that’s why, despite my praises, I can only award it a mildly positive three stars, because it is just another exorcism movie, one that offers no real deviations or surprises in familiar narrative. Even the exorcism in the movie’s finale is exactly like any you’d ever seen, with high winds inexplicably blowing, lights going on and off, and a religious hero shouting passages from a holy book all come into play with little novelty.
There are also some scare sequences that come off as more hokey than horrifying. Bits where something is found in an MRI, and a certain douche bag character has all his teeth instantly rot out of his mouth, make me chuckle instead of quiver. Also, the first act of the film is less than arresting, with not much going on other than Clyde trying in vain to make his dysfunctional family work. It definitely took more time than it should have in getting to the actual horror of the story. However, the movie’s worst offense, showing the demon via CGI towards the end. Why God, why?
So, is The Possession a perfect film? No. Not at all. But, for a movie that falls into the very played out Satanic Horror subgenre, it’s better than most, though like all in said subgenre, it doesn’t even touch the potency of the original Exorcist. How could it? Linda Blair jamming a wooden cross into her bloody crotch repeatedly while shouting, “Fuck me, Jesus!” over and over again. There is no topping that, and it would be unfair of me to assume anything in The Possession possibly could. But taking it as a horror movie unto itself, the goods are delivered. It’s not likely going to be remembered as a classic, but this little demonic spook-fest does have its moments where it will chill your blood.
