The Possession (2012) is stylish, well acted and oozes with dramatic, booming score. The film seems to have the required components to make a solid and memorable film, but somehow, it feels subdued, slow and underwhelming. Have we been saturated with possession tales??
The story centers on a broken family. Mom (Kyra Sedgwick ) and dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan ) share custody of their two girls amidst the inevitable bitterness of divorce. It’s no wonder little Emily is acting strangely.
Or, maybe it’s that bizarre wooden box she picked up at an evil yard sale. The one with the ancient hebrew scrawled on it. You know, the one that contains a pile of knick knacks that combine Pandora’s box with Boo Radley’s tree treasures.
You guessed it, the box contains a demon. In this case, a Dybbuk (an ancient Jewish box demon that looks like a second cousin of the Fiji mermaid.) The snippets of lore, myth and religion that filter into this fairly run of the mill tale are pretty much the only thing that sets this film apart.
Otherwise, we get rolling eyes, inexplicable gagging, swarms of bugs, pale kids in nightgowns contorting themselves. We’ve seen it before, and while The Possession doesn’t resort to cheap jump scares, it just doesn’t have anything terribly memorable to offer.
Director Ole Bornedal makes a solid effort, and combined with an uncomfortable score manages to project a fairly chilling image. Young girl being tortured and twisted, downright infested by demon? Creepy shit. But it’s not new. Perhaps the lore of the Dybbuk was a tempting story to tell, but our director fell flat by pouring it directly into the old familiar mould.
What's in the booox? Oh. Evil.
Think outside the box, next time.
Ha!
Life lessons:
1. One man’s trash isn’t always another man’s treasure.
2. Stay together for the kids!
3. Turn on some lights once in a while, why don’t cha?
4. You’d probably feel better if you just stopped giving a shit.
5. A boat’s just a boat, but the mystery box can be anything! ! Even a boat!
The Dark and Stormy Night 