User reviews

The parallels between this film and The Exorcist are obvious even from the trailers, so I won't go too far into that. Just suffice it to say that The Possession contains none of the impact or shock value that The Exorcist has. In short, it's just not as good of a film.

However, in its own right, it's a pretty competent horror movie. The story of the central characters is kind of cliché. Husband and wife have divorced, they share custody of the children, there's a new boyfriend/girlfriend in the picture, etc. This type of set up is always convenient when dealing with a "messed up kid" film. That way whatever is wrong with the child can inevitably be blamed on the fact that the child is just not dealing well with the break up of his or her parents. And that's exactly what happens in The Possession; except there is actually something VERY wrong with the youngest daughter and it has absolutely nothing to do with her parents. Without giving away too much, the plot centers around an ancient wooden box the youngest daughter finds at a yard sale. Of course she wants it, and so she gets it. And there begins to occur some rather strange phenomena; most of them downright spooky, a couple kind of hokey.

All in all, I was pleased. This film has got good pacing, decent acting, and exceptional cinematography. There's not much I can find as a fault here. If I had to name my major complaint about this and similar movies it would be this: I'm not thrilled about the influx of PG-13 horror films. I've a suspicion this is due to a need to bring in a wider audience (younger viewers/teenagers), and make more money on ticket sales. Because of this the final product tends to be a little too watered down for my tastes. The Possession shows a lot of promise, but I can't help but wish the writers/director would have pushed the envelope a bit more; fleshed out the story. Then it would have been great. As it stands now, I'll just say it's a "good" little horror film. Nothing that will be talked about this time next year, but I consider my money well spent.

My rating: 6.5/10

Based on the allegedly haunted Dybbuk box, 'The Possession' is a fairly interesting watch, that works in parts & Jeffrey Dean Morgan Delivers A Super Performance! He's in Complete Form this time around!

'The Possession' Synopsis: A young girl buys an antique box at a yard sale, unaware that inside the collectible lives a malicious ancient spirit. The girl's father teams with his ex-wife to find a way to end the curse upon their child.

'The Possession' works in parts. The second-hour is pretty good, but the First-Hour is slow & not very engaging. The Climax stands out, its spooky & nicely done. Juliet Snowden & Stiles White's Screenplay works in parts. Ole Bornedal's Direction is a plus-point. Cinematography & Editing are good.

Performance-Wise: Jeffrey Dean Morgan is up for top honors. He's in Complete Form this time around! Kyra Sedgwick is decent. Natasha Calis delivers aptly. Madison Davenport & Matisyahu support well.

On the whole, 'The Possession' is a fairly interesting watch.

The Possession (2012)

*** (out of 4)

Extremely well-made and well-acted horror film about a recently divorced father (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who buys his youngest daughter (Natasha Calis) a seemingly innocent box at a yard sale but soon the girl's behavior starts to change. The title pretty much tells you what happens to the little girl and I'm sure many of you are out there wondering if we really needed another possession movie. The answer is yes and especially since this one here turned out so well. I think you have to give the filmmakers a lot of credit for tackling a familiar sub-genre and being able to make it work without resorting to cheap, loud noise scares that seem to be attached to all horror movies today. I thought there were a lot of reasons why this film worked but one is the fact that you care about the father and feel his pain for losing someone close to him. The personal drama is something that THE EXORCIST used so well and the filmmakers here borrow from that and make sure the viewer can care about what's going on. Another strong point are the performances with Jeffrey Dean Morgan doing a fantastic job in the role of the father. It's rare to see horror films with such strong performances but Kyra Sedgwick is also strong as the mother. Calis is terrific in her bit as the young girl who finds herself falling apart. The limited special effects are good for what they are but we also get an incredibly effective music score. I didn't care for some of the style given to the film including the fast cuts to a black screen but this was just a minor issue. Still, THE POSSESSION gives a shot of energy to a genre that has so far in 2012 delivered one bomb after another.

'THE POSSESSION': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

A Jewish exorcism film for a change! This one revolves around Jewish folklore of the Dybbuk Box (which began in the 1920s), a box used to contain an evil Jewish demon. A father and his two daughters buy the box at a garage sale and one of the young girls becomes possessed by the demon inside it. The film was produced by Sam Raimi (and released through his horror studio 'Ghost House Pictures') and directed by Ole Bornedal. It was written by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White (who also co-wrote the Sam Raimi produced horror film 'BOOGEYMAN' and the Nicolas Cage thriller 'KNOWING') and stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick. The movie plays out like a pretty routine possession movie but it does have some pretty nice scares in it and the dybbuk storyline is interesting.

The film is based on an article by LA Times reporter Leslie Gornstein, called 'Jinx in A Box', about the history of the Dybbuk Box which was brought to America by a Holocaust survivor and passed around to various people who all reported horrific experiences from it. In the film a young girl named Em (Natasha Calis) finds the box at a garage sale and asks her dad, Clyde (Morgan), to buy it for her. Clyde was recently divorced from his wife, Stephanie (Sedgwick), and has his two daughters, Em and Hannah (Madison Davenport), for the weekend. Em takes the box home and opens it and soon strange occurrences begin happening. This causes further conflict between Clyde and Stephanie as Clyde is blamed for his daughter's strange behavior. Clyde soon discovers Em's possessed and learns the history of the box. He then travels to a local Hasidic community for help and enlists the assistance of a young jew named Tzadok (Matisyahu), who is able to perform exorcisms.

Bornedal also directed (as well as wrote) the Danish thriller 'NIGHTWATCH' and it's 1997 American remake of the same name (although Steven Soderbergh rewrote that screenplay) starring Ewan McGregor. He also directed and co-wrote the 2007 Danish horror film 'THE SUBSTITUTE' (also released by Ghost House Pictures, in America). I'm not familiar with his work but I really liked his directing on this film. It has that classic campy horror feel to it, with touches that had to be influenced by Sam Raimi (as it often feels like one of his films). The movie is often funny, in seemingly unintentional ways, but it's never too over the top. The comedy never takes you out of the creepy mood of the film and although the script is routine the film is always intriguing, thanks to the excellent filmmaking. Morgan is good in the lead and Natasha Calis is also impressive in the pivotal creepy role. To many it might just seem like a bad horror film but if you're a fan of the genre you'll probably get a big kick out of it's style and the enormous fun it has with the material.

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Let me start of by saying that The Possession is far from a horrible film. It's well put together, reasonably well acted, etc., but there's nothing to really recommend rushing out to see it.

Any true horror fan will tell you that 2012 has been slim pickings for theatrical horror films. The ones we've gotten have ranged from decent (The Woman in Black) to extremely divisive (The Cabin in the Woods). Sadly, The Possession is not going to be our saving grace this year.

I will give The Possession props for attempting to give its characters some sort of backstory and dramatic through line, especially since that's something horror filmmakers have been forgetting to put in for years. It seems they forget that it helps if we get to know the people who are about to be terrorized if they expect us to feel any sympathy for them. The family unit is quite likable thanks to some game performances, but something about it feels manufactured and unrealistic as if the writers are trying too hard.

Once the real action of the film starts and little Emily starts acting strange, the film pulls a lot of punches and never does anything interesting or original with the material. It's Exorcist-lite. It would be as if the Disney Channel tried turning The Exorcist into a TV movie for their network. It takes a lot of the dread and danger out of the last act of the film.

Also, forget about scares. No one in my audience even jumped at the film's many attempts at "boo" scares. There's a good effort to build up the dread for the first 30/45 minutes of the film, but it plateaus there and never pays off.

Like I said, The Possession is not a terrible film (nowhere near as abysmal as this year's The Devil Inside), just a dull one with nothing new to offer and no surprises to make it worth seeing. I really don't even think it's rental material. Skip it!

I'm a little bit wary when a horror film touts itself as based on a true story, because one can only take that with a pinch of salt, given that it's a film after all, and there's a need to dress it up for the silver screen and for dramatic purposes. Moreover, having to state the events took place in less than a month, seemed a little bit far fetched, given how the screenplay played things out, which made it look like months instead. Still, for the curious, you may want to look up an article called Jinx in a Box written by Leslie Gornstein, which the events in this film is purportedly based on.

So is it any good, given that the trailer essentially told the entire story from beginning to end? It got better as it moved along, and really tested your patience in the first half of the film since it really took a long time before a turn of events leading to the first boo. It introduced the characters of a dysfunctional family, where Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) has already divorced from wife Stephanie (Kyra Sedgwick), with the former getting only the weekends to spend time with daughters Hannah (Madison Davenport) and Em (Natasha Calis). The arrangements seem pretty well oiled, with Clyde having moved to another house of his own conveniently located in a new neighbourhood. As part of moving in, they pick up extra dishes at someone's backyard jumble sale, and Em gets attracted to a mysterious box, which gets bought and brought home.

Warning lights are probably flashing now, since stories of old have already warned never to pick up strange looking objects from anywhere and bringing them home. Opening Pandora's Box is also something nobody should do, and when done, welcomes a whole lot of trouble. Em becomes possessed and Natasha Calis almost got a chance to be the next Linda Blair in The Exorcist, except that The Possession minus all the kinky moves that would make parents frown and grown ups blush. Make up also helped to make her look her zombie best, coupled with fans borrowed from a Bollywood studio to let her hair fly around when the air around is still. And for those who object her bout of violent behaviour, especially when becoming possessive and protective of the mysterious box, even stranger things happen, and her unusual behaviour soon triggers Clyde to do some sleuthing of his own.

Credit must be given when credit is due, so Danish director Ole Bornedal did what he could in avoiding the usual clichés of slamming doors and jump scares. Instead, the focus was on building atmospherics through the use of creepy crawlies, and he succeeded to an extent in doing that. It took a while to build up a story, which could have done a lot more with its context of dismissing the change of the child's behaviour because of the psychological pressures in dealing with her parents' divorce, but this never really quite took off.

Instead, the last half hour floored the pedal to the metal, moving at breakneck speed and allowed a battle of good and evil, and dealing with a parent's undying love for his child, complete with self-sacrificing gesture to try and lure the evil that is inside. While there are a whole host of exorcist type films of late, to varying degrees of success and presentation, this one probably was one of the first that I've seen that was a Jewish exorcism, not involving a priest but a rabbi (Matisyahu) instead, with certain rites performed I'm sure didn't had much of an authentic ring to it (I may be wrong). And to make things a little laughable, there was a scene where Clyde thought he could do it alone through the learning of the rites on Vimeo (wonder how much they had to pay to displace YouTube), before seeking professional help.

But the unforgivable element in the film, is the editing. For all the good work that was done in the film, with the actors trying their best to flesh out a relatively flimsy storyline, everything got let down by the poor, poor editing. This probably came from having 2 editors in Eric Beason and Anders Villadsen handle the film, so one can only speculate on the clash of ideas. Ultimately it really reflected their weak editing skills and the limited scope of their abilities, making almost every transition here a fade to black, probably the only technique they can both agree on. This irritates since it's so frequently used, especially at the beginning of the film, and made it all worst when it was used so carelessly in the gripping finale, totally spoiling the mood and threw a spanner in the works. It's really choppy work, got in the way and drew attention to itself, so it was bewildering why the filmmakers had let this pass, rather than to fire them both and get someone else instead.

What can be said about this movie that hasn't been said about just about every possession movie. The scares seem more like a "make you jump for two seconds scared" than they do a "scare that stays with you for a week or so". The acting is not the most memorable but the plot its self is generally simple and easy to follow. Everything is explained to you and there is no real motivation to look any further into the topic of Dibicks and Demons. The movie takes some twist and turns but never strays to far From the actual plot. The special effects and makeup are great. Overall this movie Gets a 7/10. Its a good movie but its content source has been over done by movies such as the Last Exorcism and the Exorcist. Its not really worth going to see in theaters but its worth giving a look at if it is ever on demand or HBO.

Oozing blandness and spattered with unintentional hilarity, The Possession is an amorphous blob of been-there-done-that genre tropes, even with its limp attempt at uniqueness by putting a Jewish spin on the exorcism thriller. As it turns out, a religious figure dressed in goofy clothing muttering gibberish over a twitching young girl is an equally flaccid horror approach across all religious denominations.

If heaps of clichés ranging from the clueless parents to a little girl muttering hateful things in demon tongue weren't enough, The Possession forgets to even be scary, failing to even provide cheap jump scares let alone moments of extended tension. If a room filled with moths or flicking lights is your idea of chilling cinema then I supposed you could find something to admire amidst all the clutter, but for everyone else, this is strictly bargain-bin quality. Likewise, all of the potentially creepy imagery has been bastardized by the marketing material (et tu, poster?).

Even the setting chosen by director Ole Borendal lacks any imagination. Instead of some creepy, dilapidated homestead, he's chosen to stage the paranormal events at a brand new, immaculate home. Just because the characters in this film are too idiotic to ever turn on a light (a recurring decision that had me yelling at the screen towards the end) does not a haunted house make.

The quartet of principle actors who make up the main cast of The Possession include Jeffrey Dean Morgan (wasted here) as the rather clueless divorcée father, Kyra "The Closer" Sedgwick as the bitch-of-a- mother who has to be all "oh I'm so sorry I doubted you, our daughter is actually possessed by the demon Abizu" and their two daughters played by newcomers Natasha Calis and Madison Davenport. Thankfully, these two are quite good, at least saving the film from the oft-seen death sentence that are awful child actors. All of these characters essentially serve as demon fodder, existing to a.) be possessed, b.) be beat up by the possessed, c.) be scared by the possessed or d.) save the possessed. You won't care one iota about the lot of them.

As is always the way, our darling little princess becomes possessed after opening an old wooden box she finds at a yard sale (recycling — it never helps anyone). This is no jewellery box, but rather a religious tool known as a Dybbuk box, used to contain a broken spirit. The aforementioned demon Abizu has now latched onto young Em Brenek intent on doing ... something or another. It seems content to eat a lot of pancakes, spit bugs out of its mouth and talk'smack about peoples' loved ones.

As Em starts acting bizarre and stoic, so leads us into the Google searches for possession cures (I'm sure Web M.D. can clear that stuff right up), wild accusations across the board as to what is going on and the eventual exorcism, which apparently in Jewish cultures looks like Weird Al Yankovic rapping and head-bopping while screeching the demon's name like he's tripping balls on ecstasy. As I iterated before, exorcism in film has become an utterly eye-rolling procedure after decades of dilution and overexposure. The sequence in The Possession is particularly laughable.

There have certainly been far worse horror efforts this year both on the indie circuit and for main Hollywood releases, but The Possession is easily the most lifeless – content on existing without identity. If you have never seen an exorcism movie before, there are certainly (sadly) worse places you could start. But considering that the dated special effects and sometimes hammy performances from The Exorcist haven't degraded that classic from still being the greatest of its type, speaks volumes to the complacency of today's horror industry to churn out the mediocre and falsely brand it as cutting-edge.

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So this movie was not for everyone, I personally thought this movie was great.

An exorcism movie that does not involve the devil is refreshing to see, and the experience of the movie is played out quite well in the pacing and how events unfold. The fact it features the Jewish religion over Christianity is a very nice touch, one you rarely see in a movie of this style as most people hear exorcism and assume the Catholic church. While many may complain it is too slow, and other such things let me ask you this question.

What were you expecting from a movie that was purely plot driven?

Personally the acting was also great, I could empathize with the characters and understand them. The father was just worried about his daughter, who hid her signs of the problem well until things got bad. I mean when it really showed and she was hitting the kid at school, that looked like something that night happen in school over even something small like a favorite pencil or item. There was in my opinion no weak performances in the acting, coupled with a solid and strong story makes for quite a good movie.

Lastly the execution was some of the best I had seen this far, it flowed and was not jumpy like say the bourne movies. Nothing was out of place and the movie felt creepy and eerie throughout with all of the silence that you could almost hear in many parts of it. If your looking for a truly good movie that will have you walking away satisfied this is one of them.

It is a well written, acted, and executed movie that while it may seem slow moving is well worth the watch. Think of it what you will, but I recommend this movie as one of my top ten movies of 2012.

Yes, this movie draws parallels from the Exorcist and many other possession movies but this one does well to separate itself from the rest with the flare and touch of Sam Raimi produced films.

The movie starts off primarily slow but definitely picks up speed after the context is set and we get a good feel for the actors and the characters they play. The second and third acts of the movie are the best parts of this movie, picking up speed dramatically and separating itself from all of the other movies in this heavily populated genre. One of the shining aspects of the film is the acting from the cast who do an exceptional job representing the dynamics of a family realistically, especially during the latter half of the movie. The daughter and the actor who portrays her is probably what makes the movie 7 and not lower because she does a fantastic job in her role especially the scene in the hallway where the demon slaps her to fool the father and her older sister. When the rabbi enters the film, it gets exceptionally more entertaining and just a delight to watch with light comedy jabs that don't detract from the disturbing event of a possession and exorcism but actually emphasize its originality.

The family dynamics are top notch, as well as the acting and the originality using Sam Raimi films' comedic touch to really top things off. Unnecessary and too 'over the top' scenes in the movie such as the teacher/box scene are really what drags this movie lower. Yes, Sam Raimi is known for his over the top scenes but this touch could've been used more effectively in different parts of the movie because some of them are just so obviously gratuitous. There also could have been a more better origin story for the dibbuk rather than the very generic route it settles for. All in all a delight to watch and just know it's produced by Sam Raimi so don't get too critical in its realism or lacktherof!

am so gutted, That I missed this cause of the PG 13 Ratting.

I didn't not expect this movie to be that scary or creepy but dame this movie was really good for PG 13.

I liked the fact the movie dose not drag at all in any scene, start of in first 15 before the movie get into busy with strange things

There were some really good decent creepy scenes in this movie, The X- Ray scene was really tense and creepy. I loved that .

There did have really good atmosphere in some scenes that some of scenes tiny bit more creepy!

I enjoyed how the story came to a end, I Did not expected that to happen in the very last scene at all, I did make me Jump.

The acting this movie was outstanding from the whole cast

7 out of 10

Horror/possession/exorcism movie. One of the many films inspired by the timeless Exorcist in the special genre of films it established, of demonic possession and attempted exorcism. This film has many similarities to the exorcist, although in this case it is probably the first film to attempt an exorcism not by Christian priests, but by Jewish rabbis. It starts promisingly with intense suspense, but then although it continues with interest without being boring, it does not retain the same suspense, nor does it have any particular ending. On the plus side, the performances were very good by everyone, as the story was ok and had no vulgarities and immoralities in general as unfortunately there are in many films of the genre. Although not one of the top of the genre is a pretty good overall recommendation to the fans of the genre.

The basketball coach Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his wife Stephanie (Kyra Sedgwick) divorced a couple of months ago and their teenage daughter Hannah (Madison Davenport) and the girl Emily 'Em' (Natasha Calis) live with their mother and spend the weekends with their father.

One day, Clyde stops his car in a yard sale and Em buys an antique carved box and becomes obsessed with it. Em finds the hidden lock and releases an evil spirit that possesses her. Soon Clyde discovers that Em has a problem, but his annoying ex-wife and her boyfriend Brett (Grant Show) do not pay attention to him and get a restraining order against Clyde.

Clyde seeks out Professor McMannis (Jay Brazeau) and when he sees the box, he explains that it is a Dibbuk Box, where a fiend is trapped inside. He also explains that the box should not be open; otherwise the person will be possessed by the spirit. Now Clyde travels to a Jewish community in New York and the rabbi's son Tzadok (Matisyahu) returns with him expecting to exorcise Em to save the girl.

"The Possession" is a conventional movie of possession and exorcism but is not a bad movie, with good performances. However, the story is totally predictable and does not show anything new in the genre. Last but not the least, Brett simply vanishes from the story without any further explanation. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Possessão" ("Possession")

This movie is very good for a horror film

It starts off well and you have very good characters, the father in the film is a very good actor.

Overall the directing of the movie is excellent, all the pieces fit together well and you understand the story. A lot of horror films fail in the directing as things are mismatched and no one knows what is is going on.

It is a very well told story that develops into lots of thrills and scares

It is not a gory film which is very good but it keeps you entertained all the way through

The characters are excellent and interesting, the acting is good so this keeps you gripped all the way through

Overall an enjoyable film and does the job of a good horror film

The latest addition to horror's scariest sub-genre, exorcism movies, is Ole Bornedal's 'The Possession'. Natasha Calis stars as Em, a young girl who is intrigued by an old box she attains from a yard sale. However, soon after she purchases the box, she begins acting strange and becomes extremely protective of the box. After a string of events, her father (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), comes to the conclusion that she is possessed and an exorcism should be conducted. Kyra Sedgwick stars as Em's concerned mother and Madison Davenport stars as her terrified sister.

Exorcism is a topic that has been used in movies since the very beginning of film. William Friedkin's 'The Exorcist' starring Linda Blair has been used as the cornerstone for most modern- day possession films. While the influence is noticeable in 'The Possession', the filmmakers find a way to add a new and original twist to this terrifying movie.

Natasha Calis' performance, dare I say, was just as good as Linda Blair's performance in the classic that started Hollywood's obsession with exorcism. The transition from a carefree young girl, to a girl hurt by her parent's divorce, and finally to a possessed child was perfect. Even Jeffrey Dean Morgan has said that if it wasn't for Calis' great audition, he wouldn't have done the movie. I might've been even more scared of Em than I was of Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) in 'Orphan'.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who I know from the earlier seasons of 'Supernatural' was very good as a father conflicted between his children and his job as a basketball coach. When he realizes that his daughter may be possessed and seeks help from a rabbi was when I really started to feel bad for his character. Kyra Sedgwick, even though her role was not as prominent as Morgan's, was great as always.

Another thing that made the movie even more effective was the chilling score, composed by Anton Sanko. Even though some scares were generated by a sudden burst of sound, the creepy music that was constantly playing made the movie 10 times more intense.

The most intense part of the film was easily the yard sale scene. I turned blue from holding my breath so long. Even though you know she is going to buy the box, you will still be secretly praying she doesn't. The overwhelming sense of the evil to come is unbearable.

'The Possession' is so far the scariest movie of the year, and will most likely be the scariest of 2012. Never before have I been to a film where the movie-goers were as anxious to return to the safety of their homes. If you are willing to sacrifice a few nights sleep, then you should definitely see 'The Possession'.

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Today, I decided to give this movie a shot, whilst coming into the theater with low expectations (and I mean low). Lately, horror movies have been following this "lost footage" trend where it was widely successful in the original Paranormal Activity. But this movie comes out strong and authentic with the classic "Exorcism-type theme".

What's interesting about this movie is it bares off into Judaism setting it apart from all the other possession movies which are mainly based on Christianity.

The movie really brings out new things I haven't seen before. The acting was well done, and the characters were very persuasive (especially with the young girls). The special effects and CGI was anything but cheesy and many scenes had made the entire audience jump!

Great for a $5 movie day at your local Regal Cinema theater as for I wouldn't recommend seeing it for full price. Of course, for me to actually recommend a movie at full price is very demanding as it must be an "over-the-top-astonishing" movie (Ex. The Avengers, Dark Night Rises).

Summary: -Overall: 4/5 -Scary: 3.5/5 -Acting: 4/5 -CUFC (Content Unadvisable for Children) 1/5 Recommendation: GO! OVERALL SCORE/100: 73%