The Possession REVIEW

They were willing to try anything to cure her Justin Bieber obsession.

Release Date: 31 August 2012
15 | 92 minutes
Distributor: Lionsgate
Director: Ole Bornedal
Cast:Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Natasha Calis, Krya Segwick, Madison Davenport, Jay Brazeau

Once titled The Dibbuk Box, it’s fitting this “based on a true story” exorcism movie eventually opted for a more generic monicker – it’s very much like every other demonic take-over you’ve ever seen before.

Produced by Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert’s Ghost House Pictures and directed by Danish director Ole Bornedal (Nightwatch), there’s nothing especially wrong with The Possession – it’s slick, glossy, pacey, and occasionally funny, with some impressive effects. The problem is that there’s barely a trick or a trope that hasn’t been done (better) elsewhere, from The Exorcist to The Exorcism Of Emily Rose and The Last Exorcism.

This time it’s nine-year-old Em (Natasha Calis) who’s taken over by an evil force when she opens an old wooden box bought from a yard sale, much to the dismay of divorced parents Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick and big sister Hannah (Madison Davenport). The casket is a dibbuk box – a Jewish vessel used to trap a demon intent on consuming the young and innocent. Em wanders around in a nightdress, develops big bags under her eyes, pukes moths, puts on a funny voice and stabs her dad with a fork. Her parents don’t believe she’s possessed, do believe she’s possessed, find a rabbi, do an exorcism… and so on.

Performances are strong, especially from the two girls, and jumps are frequent, if predictable and accompanied by crashing music. It’s all entirely acceptable, but depressingly unambitious.

Rosie Fletcher

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