‘Based on a True Story’ usually means ‘You Won’t Believe Any of This, Even for a Second’. ‘The Possession’ does not disappoint in this regard. A young girl whose parents are divorcing finds an ornate wooden box at a yard sale. She must have it. When she brings it home, a lot of horror movie cliches start happening. Matisyahu, the world’s leading Orthodox Jewish Dancehall Reggae Star, must try to save the day and get the dybbuk back in the dybbuk box.
I have a soft spot for films about creepy paranormal events with religious undertones, so it’s a little bit of a bummer to have to report that this movie is boring. There are a couple of extra ooky images, but they’re basically cribbed from the superior ‘Drag Me to Hell’. The rest of the movie is a dull Lifetime movie about how divorce makes kids go goth. The box and its resident unsettled spirit do a lot of low-key ‘The Grudge’ sort of things like filling the house with bugs, or making creepy whispering noises, but not much of it is especially high-stakes. When we’re introduced to the dybbuk, it’s definitely kicking ass and taking souls, but once it gets in the hands of people we’re supposed to relate to it sort of downshifts to annoying.
In the movie’s defense, that seems to track pretty closely with what the eBay sellers allege. Bad smells, unsettling events with no clear causal link, and resistance to regifting are all inconvenient, but they don’t seem adequate to make people get rid of the box in a hurry. If I thought there was a box full of demons in my house, humming to itself and ruining my life, I can’t imagine sitting around waiting for the eBay auction to close.
The scary beats are all snagged from better films – little girls standing around looking creepy, Gollum-looking things staring mutely at the camera, bugs flying into people’s mouths. I can’t recommend it, really. I’m not sure it’s even worth renting. Sam Raimi is listed as a producer here, and I would recommend watching his ‘Drag Me to Hell’. Similar effects, much better results.
Also, sometimes a film contains a moment so monumentally stupid that it becomes impossible for me to get my head back into the game. It’s rare, but it happens. In this movie, that moment is when the demon shows up in and MRI scan. I mean, I want to let you scare me, I do. But you can’t just have a demon leering at me from an MRI, especially if it’s located in a spot that is already being used by a lot of gut-business like lungs and livers and such. From that moment on, my disbelief was reinstated with extreme prejudice.
So, in conclusion, watch ‘Drag Me to Hell’ or even ‘The Exorcist’. Leave the dybbuk in his box.
- Rated:PG-13
- horror, sleep-inducement, suspense
- Release Date: 8/31/2012
- Directed by: NOT Sam Raimi
- Starring: Gollum, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Kyra Sedgewick, some kids