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The Possession

A horror based around a demonic possession, it seems to be all the rage in Hollywood these days. Divorced and newly moved Clyde finds himself struggling to be the all round father figure his two young daughters Em and Hannah need and most importantly they need plates for his new home. Em, the youngest of the two insists stopping at a local yard sale to purchase the essentials the house requires though finds herself more interested in an old antique box lined with ancient writing. Ending up with the pile of tat Clyde picks up his daughters new box is still the most horrific item they obtain, the consequences of the purchase soon begin to dawn on the splintered family as strange occurrences become the norm, plagues of insects appear and even death loiters over it. As events get stranger and Em becomes more distant, the more suspicious Clyde gets about the box she clutches so close. But it appears Clyde may realize to late that the box is actually more deadly and curse ridden than it seems.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan plays the dry humoured and sarcastic ex-family man to perfection and shows that while the horror can be at times rather horrifically bad, Morgan takes none of it to heart and carries on with a brilliant performance effectively stealing the show. This is also another film where child-actors aren't overbearingly annoying,  main girl and possessed daughter Natasha Calis as Em giving a full and frightful performance to the point where you actually think she might be enjoying the role, gasp. Madison Davenport while not having much of a scene stealing role when she is called upon, she too negates the usual annoying child-actor stereotype brilliantly. Kyra Sedgwick has the role of nagging and worried ex-wife Stephanie, while nagging more than anything else, the weary nature of Morgan blends with her bossiness and gives both the sense of a real couple... under going the events of a demonic possession of course. Other than the main family is Grant Show as Brett the unfortunate Dentist who picks the wrong family to move in on, other than that he's mainly that jerk character that you side against with the main, he works surprisingly well in the role. Jay Brazeau is Professor McMannis the creepy teacher who Clyde goes to first about the box, he plays creepy, comedic and eccentric adding another scene of bizarre to the film. Rounding it up is... Matisyashu, taking the role of Jewish exorcist Tzadok, he plays his character with a sense of cool, to the point where you can't tell if he's a serious role or a humorous one, which is weirdly a good thing.

While it's being called 'The next exorcist!' by people who are being far too dramatic about the current mainstream amount of Hollywood horror flick, It's not a terrible film to be perfectly honest. It's very much in the same vain as Insidious, yet i enjoyed this more, i actually enjoyed this film. That's the difference though, you can enjoy a film without said film being good, The Possession isn't your usual 'good' film though such things seem few and far between. However, The Possession is good in the fact that it's comfortable with what it is and doesn't try and be something it's never going to be or reach no matter how much ambition. The performances are impressive, the story is even relatively interesting and the scares aren't just jump scares, the film makes you feel uneasy. All that said it is in no way a classic, with flaws like moments where you aren't sure whether or not your supposed to be scared or amused but for me bits like that add to The Possession's quirky charm. It's not for everyone, for die hard horror fans it might amuse, for the average casual audience it may offer a scare or two and for everyone else it could be a heart warming tale of a man trying to win back his families love whilst fighting a demon. In a box. I'd recommend seeing The Possession though be warned, it might not be the greatest thing since sliced bread as you may have been told and it may also give you a fear of some wooden objects... mainly old demonic boxes anyway.

 7  /  10

FIN.

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