Is it just me, or am I getting the vibe that Hollywood really 
has run out of ideas?
Seriously, this time they have.
There’s no big need for me to explain the movie because it’s so formulated. Basically, a father buys his daughter an old wooden box at a yard sale, she opens it, and all hell breaks loose.
Just another one to add to your stack of exorcism movies, “The Possession,” rated PG-13 and starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick, takes its “own” spin on a perfectly ruined sub-genre.
She’s possessed, she’s exorcised, yada yada. Unfortunately nowadays, you can’t expect much from PG-13 scare flicks.
I saw the trailer for this movie a few months ago, and it caught my interest in only one way. It depicted an exorcism, yes, but with a twist—a Jewish exorcism. Do those even exist? I had to see for myself.
The very first thing that pops up before the movie starts is, “This is based on a true story.” I immediately laughed—aren’t they all? Of course I believe demons are real, and I think that factor is what draws the crowds to these movies—the fact that it’s not just a spook house flick. It’s easier to believe things that we know are real and therefore easier to be scared by them. To a certain extent, I can also believe that there are out of the ordinary demonic possessions where stuff like this can happen. BUT, I have a hard time thinking every movie spewed out is fact.
The biggest beef I had with this movie was its lack of thrill factor. Sure, you had the noises of backs breaking, overly suspenseful music, and blood-curdling screams. But I didn’t even flinch—not once. I just wasn’t scared. Even the really bad horror flicks recently like the embarrassment “Chernobyl Diaries” made me jump out of my skin a couple times.
However, this flick wasn’t all bad. There was an aspect to it that I found redeemable. Morgan’s character wasn’t the stereotypical father in a horror flick that believes there just has to be a logical explanation for everything, even when his daughter is running around on the ceiling. His character immediately acknowledges that evil is just, well, evil and does everything he can to get his baby back, and for that, I can appreciate it.
In the end, I give it two out of five chips. While I’m sick to death of these overly-played demon possession movies, it showed some heart and little more human emotion than the rest, and for that, I can certainly give it some credit. I know it’s not the last we’ll see of this sub-genre, but at least we can be glad the “Paranormal Activity” franchise is over. Oh, wait…
Taylor Griffin
Chief Editor
