Review: The Possession (2012)

 

There are a good deal of possession films out there. Besides The Exorcist, the list of the bad ones are numerous, and this one probably knew it would fall amongst that list too. To say the least, it seems like this film didn't even try to be something good. It's one of the most generic horror films out there, that only succeeds at being forgettable.


The film is about a girl who gets possessed by a demon in a box. That's all there is to it. From beginning to end, the film will leave audiences recalling past films they saw. It was just one horror gimmick after the other, but even at that, the tricks were dated. There wasn't a single scene in this film that didn't take it's idea from something else. The only slight difference you'll find in this film, is the focus on Judaism instead of Christianity.

The one to get possessed is animal lover Em (Natasha Calis), who couldn't play the role of a demon impregnated child all that well.Can't exactly blame her. It also doesn't help she had to deliver an extremely weak script that was reminiscent of a straight to DVD film. From the organic loving mother to the posh sister, it was just a too overdone formula. At this point, these types of characters are the ones that are only used ironically, and yet this film is trying to relive the days where people don't care if there's weak characterisation.

This film was a mess. It never knew which moments it wanted to put the most emphasis on, and the way it played, one would think the best was saved for last. The final moments were weak and nonsensical. The whole point to the demon was completely lost. It was instead exchanged for a probably more easier choice to film. Seeing as Jeffrey Dean Morgan was the only decent actor in this film, they tried to rely on him to hold up a scene a little too much.

Bearing the tag of being "a true story", the film attempted to describe a haunting that happened over the course of 29 days. To describe moments that passed in time, it would always cut every scene short to a black screen and use this one horrid piano note. Besides this being a horrible way to transition into the next scene, it also cut every moment of horror. There was a constant buildup within each scene to the "scary moment" and right when they finally reached that moment, it cut to the next scene, thus ruining any attempts at horror it may have had.

The Possession is a film that couldn't have set out to accomplish much. It's a money grabber that was made with little to no thought, expecting a high return on its expenses. With a big budget, the film managed to deliver some good special effects at least, but it ultimetly falls short and with such a weak story, it couldn't hold up for the 92 minute run time. This will no doubt be a film that will leave audiences' minds after one day of viewing it. Simply put, this is a forgetful and underwhelming feature.