The Possession (2012)

So much average

Just perfect...

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

During 2010-2012, a period of exorcism and possesion films came out including The Rite, Exorcismus, The Devil Inside, The Last Exorcism and of course, The Possession which came out in the Autumn of 2012 and was reportidly the last one to arrive before the trend ended. The film follows a young girl who takes in a box from a yard sale which will not open but one night, she then does and releases all kinds of malevolant evil..including the ones who want to take over her. So, one thing..this film is a possession film, so it's pure boredom, simple as. There is not any exorcism film that is actually very entertaining, the only one that sort of succeeded on that was The Exorcist. So ya, just a short review for you guys about this film, The Possession, it's good, it's not very creative but it does creative things with the story but it is VERY boring which is why everyone does not like it.

For starters I should say that halfway through the movie, until that point, I honestly felt this was one of the finest horror movies I'd seen, the acting is great, the settings (the grim and empty feeling of the new house when they just sit down for dinner), yet one fused with just good classic American style family dialogues and interactions between teen daughters and their dad (which, I should state gave a serious boost to the movie for me- the father portrayed by JDM, his presence is almost spiritual to me in it's incredible fatherly, graceful decorum and personality), the scenes where he coaches his team, etc..I simply found it superbly well made. There are however some problems with this film - first of all, I think the potential in the storyline is transcendental, it's just magnificent, (I mean, the whole idea of Jewish lore and real haunted traditional Jewish object, wise rabbis who of course are just so much more awesome than some pisspoor Christian priest, and the buildup and adventure and amazing references that could have been implemented in the film...) - well that's the problem, the potential and expectations for what this could have been in my book is so amazing, that it would be hard to execute it ideally, but I maintain the efforts weren't even half-way enough, it falls pretty flat once the whole "turn to Judaism" thing starts, and disappoints severely imo, and it just keeps spiraling down from there, to where it gets "choppy", too fast paced and all in all just disappointing to me. To sum up, I'd say this movie in idea is divinely great, as a whole it disappoints direly, but if you're looking for a ghost movie that's just easy to watch ,well acted (and with great actors c'mon Jeffrey Dean Morgan fcs)and with a nifty idea based on a real haunted object, go for it. :)

I read many negative reviews about this film, I just don't get them. This totally worked for me. The atmosphere is just perfect, building at a slow but constant pace, the story, within the reference system of the exorcism movies, is original, the acting goes from good to excellent (the little girl is amazing with her evil stares) and the scares are there, believe me. Not your usual loud noises or semi- open doors with a shadow beyond them, here it is the story itself that is scary. I don't know how much about the reference to a true story claimed at the beginning is true, but it doesn't really matter. What matters to me, is that while I was watching this movie alone in the night, some creaking noise came from somewhere in my house and I distinctly felt creeps going all over my body. And I'm not an easily scared teenager, I'm 46 and I started watching horror movies when I was about 10. I think I watched hundreds of them. But just seldom one of them gave me the creeps like this one did. Super-recommended!

After The Exorcist, I find movies about possession to be unoriginal and tedious, and this one was no different.Add to it a very annoying character - the mother of the possessed girl, played by Kyra Sedgwick complete with the bitchy ex-wife thing going full speed, made me start walking away from the screen before the film was half over.But if you like this kind of thing, go for it. It's well produced and acted, with some minor gross-outs to keep it interesting. But it's mediocre to the end.