Synopsis/Plot Summary:
The Possession is the latest filmmaking attempt to put a stamp on this most unforgiving of horror subgenres.
Clyde is a basketball coach freshly divorced from his wife Stephanie trying to make a new life with his two teenage daughters, Hannah and Em. Trading an apartment for a large house in a brand new housing development doesn’t temper the difficulties of life for this newly fractured family however Clyde gives it his best shot. Passing by a garage sale the girls remind Clyde to pick up some much needed dinner ware. While playing dress up Em finds a curious looking dark wooden box which is a sort of puzzle since there isn’t an obvious way to open it and check out its contents. Clyde buys the mysterious box for Em and barely lives to regret this seemingly innocuous decision for this box contains a Dybbuk, a Jewish demon trapped within dooming the owner of the box to a hellish existence.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the beleaguered husband and father gives a grounded performance even as the events progressively get out of control. Kyra Sedgwick as his estranged ex-wife with some residual affection for her absentee ex-husband handles her role with aplomb as her character begins to realize the demon is not her ex but rather within her daughter. Natasha Calis is convincing as a spiritually embattled teenager, but her character never seems to truly be let loose with a devil inside. Matisyahu as the Yiddish exorcist seems completey inexperienced to do battle with the Dybbuk despite his solemn attitude.
Ole Bornedal’s direction of the film includes several scenes with dizzying aerial shots which portrays suburbia as a series of intricately composed Dybbuk boxes. An eerie scene set in a morgue bathed in red light, as well as a darkened kitchen illuminated only by the glow of an open refrigerator, are two stand out scenes of demonic malevolence. C.G.I. moths abound in certain scenes, as well as composing the Hebrew demon itself which looks like a pissed off fetus straight out of Golem’s uterus. (For you L.O.T.R. fanboys and girls, I know Golem is a male so don’t get your Frodos in a bundle around your Sams, ok?) It looks so similar I was waiting for it to utter “Mine Tayer! Mine Tayer!”
So in summation, this entry into the demonic possession subgenre is a middle of the road affair. I never felt immersed in the events, more like an estranged viewer witnessing the by the numbers events as they unfolded before my weary eyes. Why do I watch when I know there is truly only one? My will is weak.
Rated: PG-13
Directed : Ole Bornedal
Written : Juliet Snowden, Stiles White
Cast: Natasha Calis, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgwick, and Matisyahu
Runtime: 92 min.
Country: U.S.A.
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