Starring: Jeffery Dean Morgan, Natasha Calis, Kyra Sedgwick

Directed by: Ole Bornedal

Today, I’ve just seen the Sam Raimi produced PG-13 horror film, “The Possession” and here is my review…

Plot/Synopsis: A young girl named, Emily, buys an antique box at a yard sale, unaware that inside the box lives a malicious ancient spirit. Her body has been taken over by this spirit since she opened the box, and she has become possessed because of it. Emily’s father teams up with the Hasidic religious community, hoping to save Emily’s life from this demon who has taken over her.

Movie fans and critics have given this movie mixed reviews. It’s another one of those, you either love it or hate it, kind of movies. This film is doing very good in the box office and selling pretty big. So I had to see it for myself. The film is not as bad as some made it out to be. I liked it. It was a pretty good horror film for a PG-13 movie. The writing wasn’t that bad. A lot of it actually made sense, and the pacing was pretty good too. Not slow and boring like some said it was. They wanted to keep this movie a family friendly film. A horror film that is suitable for the entire family of all ages. There have been way too many exorcism movies in Hollywood as of late, it seems to be a trend, but this is something that kids can watch.

Yes, some of it is pretty graphic and gory a little bit, but not that bad. I found some of the scenes in the movie pretty silly and weren’t needed but other than that, the film was fine. The acting was okay. There were some scares and a few jumpy parts. I jumped once, and that rarely happens when I’m watching a horror film. If any horror film can make me jump like that, this reason alone is what makes me respect this film. You can tell Sam Raimi has been throwing ideas toward the writer and director ’cause this film definitely had a bit of Evil Dead style into it. It was kind of similar to Sam’s last directed horror film, “Drag Me To Hell”. Maybe the reason people didn’t like this film too much ’cause it’s a Hebrew horror film. Yes, there is such a genre in the horror world.

I thought the film ended well. I didn’t expect it. Of course, the ending leaves open for a sequel, but the ending will get you scratching your head a bit. The ending was kind of shocking. With all this being said, this is not the best horror film ever. Certainly not the best exorcism movie ever. Nothing will ever top “The Exorcist” with Linda Blair, but “The Possession” was good. It was pretty unpredictable movie and had me at the edge of my seat at times. “The Possession” was a pretty realistic exorcism movie. They made it seem like demonic possessions can be believable.

Score for “The Possession” = *** (3 stars as in “Good”)

Kev