Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (2025)
Showing posts with label possession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label possession. Show all posts

1/24/2018

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) - Boorman stuns with truly abysmal sequel

ZERO

Linda Blair is trapped in a pitch black abyss on the poster and in the reality that was John Boorman's Exorcist II: The Heretic

Regan, the girl who was the victim of a demonic possession by the devil in the original The Exorcist (1973), has in the 4 years since become a well-functioning teenage girl, who now meets a reckless experimental psychologist in a futuristic clinic full of children with Down Syndrome. Meanwhile Father Lamont is sent to her to investigate Father Merrin's exorcism of her in the past. - Was the esteemed Merrin in fact a satanist?

These grotesqueries are merely the start of the astonishingly wretched Exorcist II: The Heretic. William Friedkin, who directed the original horror masterpiece The Exorcist, has called watching The Heretic as bad as seeing a traffic accident in the street, and indeed watching it does feel like witnessing some sort of disaster play out in slow motion. It is probably the worst sequel to a monumental masterpiece ever made; I certainly cannot remember any more abrupt free-fall in quality than this, from the very peak of splendor to the absolute depths of shlock.
Exorcist II: The Heretic awakens feelings of rage, because it isn't just poorly thought up, incomprehensible and shabbily made; it also stomps around on the brilliant Exorcist. It is written by William Goodhart (Generation (1969)) and directed by great English filmmaker John Boorman (Point Blank (1967)). - It is almost unbelievable that the central man behind it, Boorman, made the great thriller classic Deliverance (1972) just years before this. Exorcist II: The Heretic marks an abomination of a movie that he, rightly, could never wipe off his career afterwards.
Many involved should have known better than to work in this mess. Linda Blair (All Is Normal (2008)) may inspire pity, because she was still just a teenager, when she was trapped in this fecal tumbler.
The Heretic is insufferably boring and immerses itself with no limitations in grasshoppers and African mumbo-jumbo that leads nowhere. Louise Fletcher's (A Perfect Man (2013)) descent from her Oscar-winning turn in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) to this is spectacularly steep, but no-one is good in The Heretic; Ennio Morricone's (The Repenter/Il Pentito (1985)) score is not even good, and the effects just stink.
The biggest reason that this religious horror fails so epically may be that Boorman here actually tried to make a film about goodness.

Related posts:

The Exorcist franchise: Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) or, The Exorcist: Back to Africa!
The Exorcist (1973) - Friedkin and Blatty's masterpiece, one of the scariest pictures of all time





Listen to some of Morricone's score to the film here

Cost: 14 mil. $
Box office: 30.7 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertainty - flop status without foreign receipts known, - in reality likely broke even or was a box office success on the whole
[Exorcist II: The Heretic was released 17 June (North America) and runs 117 minutes (North America) and 102 minutes (European cut). Neither Friedkin or William Peter Blatty, who were behind The Exorcist, could come up with a feasible sequel and opposed The Heretic, which Boorman helmed, after he had refused directing Exorcist, finding it 'repulsive'. Ellen Burstyn, who was Regan's mother in the first film, refused to participate. The film became Warner Bros.' most expensive production in its day, partly because the production was barred from shooting at several key locations, which were then recreated at the studio. Shooting took place in Arizona, Utah, New York, Washington, D.C. and in California from May 1976 - ?. The production was fraught with problems: Boorman was sick for a month with a respiratory infection, in which production seized. Kitty Winn and Fletcher contracted gall bladder infections. Rewrites continued throughout production, and the film's editor quit. Richard Burton, who plays Father Lamont, took the job for its paycheck and the studio's promise that he could afterwards do Equus, and was reportedly frequently drunk on-set. Blair was developing a drug habit and also carried this with her on-set. Stories of the film's premieres are notorious: Studio execs attended an early screening at the Chicago Film Critics Festival and had to flee angry audience members chasing them in the street for the lousy film after it playing just 10 minutes. Other premieres caused laughter and fury with audiences throwing stuff at the screens in detriment. - Still, many simply had to see what the ruckus was all about. Boorman recut the film again and again, - with no better results. It opened #2 to a 6.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America. The franchise continued with The Exorcist III by Blatty and released for the first time in 1990. Boorman returned with Excalibur (1981). Exorcist II: The Heretic is rotten at 19 % with a 3.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Exorcist II: The Heretic?

4/22/2017

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) or, The Court Case Against Emily Rose's Exorcist



A misty, chilling poster for Scott Derrickson's The Exorcism of Emily Rose

Rose is a possibly possessed young woman who dies during an unsuccessful exorcism. Now her Catholic priest exorcist stands accused of causing her death. - But what really killed her?

The Exorcism of Emily Rose is written by Paul Harris Boardman (Deliver Us from Evil (2014)) and co-writer-director Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange (2016)), based on a true story. The story is told through a mix of choppy, flickering flashbacks of Jennifer Carpenter (Battle in Seattle (2007)) as the demonically possessed - or merely psychotic - Emily Rose with the post-death present plane, wherein we get Laura Linney (The Details (2011)) and Tom Wilkinson (Snowden (2016)) injecting integrity into the tale with fine performances.
The film surprises as more of a court room drama than the horror we are led to expect from the title and poster. SPOILER The ending is an incomprehensible misfire, as Father Wilkinson is found guilty but still simply gets to walk away. Still, The Exorcism of Emily Rose is fairly entertaining.

Related posts:




Scott Derrickson: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Sinister (2012) - Derrickson's genuinly unpleasant horror


The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) - Unduly bashed sci-fi drama

Listen to a track from the film's soundtrack here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 144.2 mil. $
= Huge hit
[The Exorcism of Emily Rose premiered 1 September (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 119 minutes. The film is based on the story of German Anneliese Michel, who passed away in 1976 after 67 exorcisms at a weight of just 68 lbs. Comparisons of film and the real and disturbing story can be found here. Filming took place in Los Angeles and in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from November 2004 onward. The film opened #1 to a stellar 30 mil. $ opening weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top five for another two weeks (#2, #5) and grossed 75 mil. $ (52 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Catholic: Mexico with 7.1 mil. $ (4.9 %) and Spain with 7 mil. $ (4.9 %). Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars, translating to one notch higher than this review. The same story has inspired a much greater German film by Hans-Christian Schmid, Requiem (2006). The Exorcism of Emily Rose is rotten at 45 % with a 5.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Exorcism of Emily Rose?

3/20/2017

Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) or, The Exorcist: Back to Africa!



+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year  


A somewhat bland poster for Renny Harlin's Exorcist: The Beginning


Father Merrin is a priest who has fallen from his faith, as he gets hired to work as an archaeologist at a buried church in Africa, which shouldn't exist. SPOILER - It turns out the be a church of Lucifer!

Exorcist: The Beginning, written by Alexi Hawley (The Following (2014-15)), with Caleb Carr (Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)) and William Wisher Jr. (Judge Dredd (1995)) contributing story elements, and directed by Renny Harlin (Cliffhanger (1993)), is a tolerably decent prequel to William Friedkin's original masterpiece The Exorcist (1973).
Stellan Skarsgård (Beowuld & Grendel (2005)) is ideally cast as a younger version of Merrin, so memorably played by Max Von Sydow in the original. Exorcist: The Beginning is a totally different type of film, and its best moments are primarily in the devious, subterranean church. It is marred by an ugly CGI-rendered hyena attack and general overuse of closeups.
Exorcist: The Beginning is an unobtrusive and forgettable horror.

Related reviews:

Renny Harlin: Cleaner (2008) or, Suit-Wearing Papa Cleaner-Man! 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Deep Blue Sea (1999) or, Big Hungry Fish
Die Hard 2 (1990) or, John McClane: Back for Seconds!  







Here's the first minute of the film from a VHS release


Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 78 mil. $
= Big flop
[Exorcist: The Beginning premiered 18 August (Hollywood) and runs 114 minutes. The film came to be as a reaction to Paul Shrader's Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005), the original prequel film, which Shrader had made too talky, slow and un-gory for the studios' (Morgan Creek Productions and distributor Warner Bros.) liking, and so he was fired, and a new prequel was produced: Skarsgård stars in both films, but Harlin is reportedly responsible for most of what is seen in Exorcist: The Beginning. Shooting took place from November 2003 - February 2004 in Casablanca, Morocco and Italy, including in Rome's Cinecittà Studios. The film isn't consistent with the facts stated in Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) about the African setting and possessed boy there. It opened #1 with 18 mil. $ in North America, where it fell to #5 in its second week before leaving the top 5 and grossed 41.8 mil. $ (53.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 7.5 mil. $ (9.6 %) and Spain with 5.2 mil. $ (6.7 %). Shrader was subsequently allowed to release his 30 mil. $ movie, which grossed an even worse, catastrophic 251k $ domestically. Sometimes the Exorcist: The Beginning cost is erroneously listed as 80 mil. $, the combined budget of the two films. Friedkin has called Exorcist: The Beginning his "most humiliating professional experience." Exorcist: The Beginning is rotten at 11 % with a 3.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Exorcist: The Beginning?

5/02/2016

The Exorcist (1973) - Friedkin and Blatty's masterpiece, one of the scariest pictures of all time



The iconic poster for William Friedkin's The Exorcist

QUICK REVIEW:

In Georgetown, Washington, D.C., a famous actress' preteen daughter Regan is possessed by an ancient Iraqi demon so strong that an official Catholic exorcist gets involved.

The Exorcist is an adaptation of William Peter Blatty's (Legion (1983)) same-titled 1971 novel, - which was based on an actual 1949 exorcism of a young boy in Maryland, one of three exorcisms authorized by the Catholic Church in the US at the time, - written by Blatty himself, winning an Oscar for his job, and directed by Oscar-nominated master Chicagoan filmmaker William Friedkin (The French Connection (1971)). It is a notorious film and still diabolically scary.
It is beautifully photographed by Oscar-nominated Owen Roizman (Wyatt Earp (1994)) with lots of vertical angles and symbolism. The extraordinary, Oscar-nominated Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream (2000)) is phenomenal as Regan's mother, and so is Max von Sydow (Truck Stop (1996)) as the titular exorcist, Father Merrin.
Especially for Christians, The Exorcist is and will probably always remain one of the scariest movies of all time.

Related review:

William Friedkin: Killer Joe (2011) - Friedkin's dark, intense maybe last cinematic package

The Boys in the Band (1970) - Friedkin and Crowley's groundbreaking gay birthday party movie




Max von Sydow in William Friedkin's The Exorcist

Linda Blair (Sorceress (1995)) as Regan in William Friedkin's The Exorcist


In lieu of a trailer for the film, not currently on Youtube, here's a scene from it
 
Cost: 12 mil. $ 
Box office: 402.7 - 441.3 mil. $
= Blockbuster
[The Exorcist was released December 26 and runs 121/131 (director's cut) minutes. The adaptation of Blatty's New York Times bestselling novel was difficult in many ways. Directors Stanley Kubrick, Arthur Penn, Peter Bogdanovich, Mike Nichols, John Boorman (who eventually made the God-awful sequel) and Mark Rydell were all contacted but turned down or
otherwise fell out of the project, before Friedkin was hired based on his incredible job with French Connection. The fabled production, which began August 1972 and lasted not the already long, scheduled 85 days but an astounding 224 days, concluding in July 1973. It included Friedkin using unconventional methods to get the best performances out of everybody, including giving Burstyn and Blair back injuries due to harnesses pulling them, Friedkin slapping a reverend across the face before his scene, firing blanks from a gun on set, affecting the cast and crew with eerie music and sounds playing between takes and constructing a giant freezer around the exorcism set, so that everyone had to work in freezing temperatures for long durations of time, (Blair mostly just in a night dress.) It was shot on location in Iraq in a blistering heat (!), in a Manhattan studio, in New York locations and in Georgetown, D.C. Several versions of the film have been devised since its release, cutting and changing different parts and reinserting material, such as the famous spider-walk scene, which has been reinserted after digital technology has made possible its improvement, so that the wires visible in it could be erased. The Exorcist opened to mixed reactions from critics, some lambasting it while others sang it praise: Roger Ebert awarded it a perfect 4 star rating but also called it a "painful experience." It opened very tentatively in just 26 theaters but the sensational response of the public, (just try typing 'the exorcist 1973 reactions' on Youtube!) soon made it available all over North America, where it grossed 66.3 mil. $ in rentals in its first run, becoming the second-biggest movie of 1974 domestically, behind The Sting. With reissues, it has grossed 232.9 mil. $ (ca. 57.8 % of the total gross) in North America. It was nominated for 10 Oscars, becoming the first ever horror to be nominated for Best Picture. It lost editing, director (George Roy Hill), picture and art direction to Sting, cinematography to Cries & Whispers, supporting actress (Blair) to Tatum O'Neal (Paper Moon), supporting actor (Jason Miller (Rudy (1993))) to John Houseman (The Paper Chase), actress (Burstyn) to Glenda Jackson (A Touch of Glass), but it won for Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay (Blatty). It was also nominated for 7 Golden Globes, winning 4, for Best Drama (!), Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actress (Blair) and Director. The film has spun two sequels and a prequel, a Turkish remake and inspired tons of other films. The Exorcist is certified fresh at 87 % with an 8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Exorcist?
What is the scariest film of all time in your opinion?

10/09/2013

The Devil Inside (2012) or, The Vatican Possessions

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Horror Movie of the Year


A woman with terror in her eyes brandishes a cross etched on her inner lip on this grueling poster for William Brent Bell's The Devil Inside
 

A young woman wants closure about her parentage; at an early age, her mother killed three people during an exorcism performed on her. Since then, the mother has been kept in a special asylum in the Vatican.

 

The Devil Inside is written by co-writer/co-producer Matthew Peterman (Stay Alive (2006)) and co-writer/director/co-editor William Brent Bell (Sparkle and Charm (1997)).
The story moves fast in this found footage mockumentary horror; the acting is pretty seamless without sticking out in any way, - perhaps as it should be in this kind of docu-hoax film.
The first scene with the mother (Suzan Crowley (The Fear of Looking Up (2019))) is deeply unsettling and frightening, and some spectacularly scary scenes follow. The effects are impressively carried out, and the format works. The film is shocking and has images of horror that will stick on your retina after it is over. This more than compensates for its flaws: The flashback scenes of the mother's exorcism are lacking, and too many speak English naturally in the Vatican, which regrettably sheds some of the realism from the proceedings.

Related posts:

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess

 


 


Watch a trailer for the film here


Cost: 1 mil. $
Box office: 101.7 mil. $
= Mega-hit (returned 101.7 times its cost)

[The Devil Inside premiered 5 January (Los Angeles) and runs 83 minutes. Shooting took place from November 2010 -  January 2011 in Bucharest, Romania, the Vatican and in Rome, Italy. The film opened #1 to a 33.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 53.2 mil. $ (52.3 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7 mil. $ (6.9 %) and Mexico with 6.3 mil. $ (6.2 %). Bell returned with Wer (2013). Crowley returned in Liz & Dick (2012, TV movie) and theatrically in The Den (2013). The Devil Inside is rotten at 6 % with a 3.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Devil Inside?

9/29/2013

The Last Exorcism Part 2 (2013) or, A Last Chicken Exorcism

♥♥

A self-ironic poster for Ed Gass-Donnelly's The Last Exorcism Part 2, which fails because it may make people believe that they are in for a spoof comedy

This is a follow-up to the successful found-footage possession horror movie The Last Exorcism (2010), which also starred Ashley Bell (Novitiate (2017)).
Films are much about the expectations they raise, and how those expectations are met, and my expectations for The Last Exorcism Part 2 were not high, to put it mildly. The title in itself is laughable. Any 'Last' something obviously shouldn't have a Part 2
The corny poster design is in line with this concept, which would make one expect a horror comedy.
With these thoughts I embarked on watching the film, and I was positively surprised to find that it has a (mostly) coherent plot. And is set in New Orleans, with the obligatory parade, and a visit to the zoo, which looks awesome.
And the premise for the plot is even a fresh angle on possession films: 

The formerly possessed cult young woman is moved to a home for troubled girls, whom she connects with, and she tries to come back to normal life and pays attention to the home leader's atheism, and even gets a strange boyfriend, but, lo and behold; the demon is still there.

The troubled girls' home isn't really used for any of the many things that it might have been used for horror-wise, and you never get to know any of the girls, (in fact, they don't seem like troubled girls at all.)
The romance is stale and lacks chemistry and energy. Bell has an interesting look and possessed act that holds our attention for most of the film, even if she's 26 while playing a 17 year-old, and even though many of the scare scenes disappoint. They are not that scary and/or are not staged right. Despite the indication in the poster, the film doesn't have any new sensational effects or particularly grueling scenes. (Besides one scene in which the girl floats to the ceiling while asleep and sexually aroused.)
The beginning of the film was confusing to me; it seems that the girl suddenly appears in the home of a young couple? After which this scene seems to have no relation at all to the rest of the film. Then there are the flashbacks, which are too many, and not the old-fashioned kind of flashbacks that tell us something specific, but mostly the more modern kind with flashing lights and screaming so that audiences that have not seen the first The Last Exorcism (...) will only gather that the girl has already been through something horrible in her past. (And why else would she be at the troubled girls' home in the first place, we might interject with some reason.)
SPOILER Then comes the central exorcism scene that the girl willingly agrees to. This is a kind of black magic-inspired exorcism, in line with the New Orleans setting. It has by this point been established that the demon loves the girl and therefore does not want to leave her. But in the exorcism, the trio of mystics throwing around salt and other things intend to say mystic words and then lure the demon out of its beloved subject to live, instead, in a wild chicken that they have brought with them for the purpose. This questionable plan understandably fails.
The ending is not scary and a major let-down for anyone mildly invested in the film.
But with the proper, incredibly low expectations, you will not be too disappointed by The Last Exorcism part 2, which however definitely lets down the expectations of self-aware humor set by its title and poster.
The film is written by Damien Chazelle (Grand Piano (2013)) and co-writer/director/editor Ed Gass-Donnelly (This Beautiful City (2007))

Related posts:

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess





Watch a short trailer for the movie here

Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: 25 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 5 times its cost)
[The Last Exorcism Part 2 was released 28 February (Russia) and runs 88 minutes. Shooting took place in New Orleans, Louisiana. The film opened #5, behind fellow new release Jack the Giant Slayer, holdover hit Identity Thief, new release 21 & Over and holdover hit Snitch, to a 7.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its second week and grossed 15.1 mil. $ (60.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Brazil with 1.5 mil. $ (6 %) and France with 1.2 mil. $ (4.8 % ). Though successful commercially, the film's gross is far from the 1.8 mil. $ first film's 67.7 mil. $ gross. Gass-Donnelly returned with The Determinist (2014, short) and theatrically with Lavender (2016). Bell returned in Sparks (2013). The Last Exorcism Part 2 is rotten at 15 % with a 3.58/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Last Exorcism Part 2?

8/13/2013

The Possession (2012) - Bornedal's possession horror struggles with the demon of mediocrity



A swarm of moths seems to come out of a girl's mouth on this gnarly poster for Ole Bornedal's The Possession

A recently divorce-stricken family contract a grave problem, when a box bought at a yard sale turns out to be a Jewish dybbuk box harboring an evil spirit.

People see movies like The Possession for a variety of reasons. When it ran in theaters, some people told me they had laughed their way through it. Despite it being disrespectful to the fellow audience members and the people that made the movie, - but what is most critical for the filmmakers, I reckon, is that they still went and saw it, - in substantial numbers, actually, - and so their derisive, impolite laughter may not count for much in the end.
The trailer for The Possession is great, which you can see below, and that might have contributed immensely to its success, because it has some central drawbacks:
1. Possession has no real stars: Jeffrey Dean Morgan (They Came Together (2014)) and Kyra Sedgwick (Behind the Red Door (2003)) might be familiar enough faces, but they don't count as actual stars in my book. Furthermore, they both play their parts woodenly at times. 
2. The plot of the film is not terribly original to say the least. The backside to the trailer is that it pretty much tells the entire narrative of the movie, which therefore gets to feel like a drawn out trailer, - which no film aims to do.
Writing team Juliet Snowden and Stiles White (Oujia (2014), both), who based their script on an article by Leslie Gornstein, don't succeed in adding to the possession horror subgenre that they have explained that they endeavored into as fans of William Friedkin's classic horror masterpiece The Exorcist (1973). The provocations and sophistication of that movie don't linger in The Possession, where certain scenes are almost laughable in the way they seem to talk down to their audience, SPOILER as when the distressed father seeks out a room full of wise, bearded Jews to explain the evil box, and they all walk in different directions in instant fright, when he mentions it. Or when the girl stabs her father in the hand with a fork without there being any consequences, reproach or nothing.
The grip on horror here could also be tighter, SPOILER as when the savior-Jew screams continuously at the demon, (which isn't scary), or a teacher is thrown out a window, (which in the genre's context is simply an inadequate death.) William Peter Blatty's (Gunn (1967)) script for The Exorcist was something else, and that is just one of the reasons why that is a great movie, and The Possession is a mediocre one.
The ideas in The Possession which do seem fresh is its focus on a divorce dilemma, wherein everything gets blamed on the dad, and the women with their veganism and other modern ideas such as 'seeing someone' (that is, psychiatrists) continually prove to be very wrong and idiotic. It is all in vein of the fundamentally - mostly - conservative genre of horror. - Nothing modern is of any use against ancient demons, as the genre diehard will know without fail. (Nor should it be.)
The opening announcement of the film, - that the following events took place in 29 days, - have no real meaning or import, besides being a reference to the menstrual cycle, and thus the burgeoning teen-possession also has that rather backwards leg to walk on. (Menstruation equaling freak-out demonism.) Take that as you want.
The extremely simple score by Anton Sanko (Rabbit Hole (2010)) with one recurring note returning again and again works, and the movie, besides its faults, certainly still managed to scare the audience that I saw it with.
The Possession is directed by great Danish filmmaker Ole Bornedal (The Substitute/Vikaren (2007)), who references his own great horror Nattevagten/Nightwatch (1994) in it and has declared that he was drawn to it as an allegory for divorce more than as a horror. And it does seem very intent on its regret/shame/neglect/'the-modern-world-is-crap' focus. Raging out after a personal divorce with a horror movie doesn't result in greatness in this case.(David Cronenberg (Scanners (1981)) did just about the same with his The Brood (1979), which is also more strange and off-putting than really scary in my opinion.)






Director Bornedal and producer Sam Raimi (Spider-Man (2002)) talk about the film at its premiere here

Cost: 14 mil. $
Box office: 85.4 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 6.1 times its cost]
[The Possession was released 30 August and runs 92 minutes. It is very loosely based on a real story of an allegedly haunted dybbuk box. Shooting took place in 'early 2011' in British Columbia, Canada. Bornedal and Morgan have both related strange occurrences of lights exploding and the props burning five days after shooting in a storage fire. The film opened #1 to a 17.7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed #1 for another week, then dropped to #3 and then left the top 5, grossing 49.1 mil. $ (57.5 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 5.3 mil. $ (6.2 %) and Mexico with 3.8 mil. $ (4.4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to two notches higher than this one. Bornedal has kept his career in his native Denmark since the film; he returned with 1864 (2014, miniseries) and theatrically with Small Town Killers/Dræberne fra Nibe (2017). Morgan returned in Red Dawn (2012), Sedgwick in Kill Your Darlings (2013). The Possession is rotten at 40 % with a 5.11/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Possession?
Any personal experiences with a possession or haunting?

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (5-25)

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (5-25)
Kleber Mendonca Filho's The Secret Agent (2025)