When Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), freshly divorced from Stephanie (Kyra Sedgwick) has his two daughters to his new house for the weekend, younger daughter Em (Natasha Calis) takes a fancy to a carved wooden box at a yard sale. We could have warned her against this, because we have already seen in the prologue that this box harbours some sort of malevolent supernatural force. However she acquires it, bad things happen etc. Etc. And I won't give away anything else.
I have no complaint with the fact that The Possession is an utterly generic possession-themed horror film, nor that it is relatively light on the staples of horror movies, namely horror (there are some made-you-jump moments, some loud noises, some spooky makeup, a few effects, and a bit of CGI, all of which do their jobs reasonably well). I have no complaint with the performances which are all good, especially Natasha Calis (whose career is going to suffer due to the fact that Chloe Moretz got there first). I have no complaint with the notion that we should be introduced to, and sympathise with, these characters and their family dysfunctionality so that we have an emotional stake in the horror that is waiting for them: we need to care about them, and see that the family breakup which is damaging them was unnecessary, and hope that they get through this awful trial, and that Em can be rescued.
But gee whiz, get on with it, willya? The first half of this movie spends so much time setting up the family dynamics that the supernatural shenanigans - and that's why we're there, guys, not for the family soap - come almost as an afterthought, and seem rushed.
The potential which this film had is completely lost in ploddy pacing.
Oh, and by the way, you can lose the "based on a true story" title card - it no longer convinces.
I have no complaint with the fact that The Possession is an utterly generic possession-themed horror film, nor that it is relatively light on the staples of horror movies, namely horror (there are some made-you-jump moments, some loud noises, some spooky makeup, a few effects, and a bit of CGI, all of which do their jobs reasonably well). I have no complaint with the performances which are all good, especially Natasha Calis (whose career is going to suffer due to the fact that Chloe Moretz got there first). I have no complaint with the notion that we should be introduced to, and sympathise with, these characters and their family dysfunctionality so that we have an emotional stake in the horror that is waiting for them: we need to care about them, and see that the family breakup which is damaging them was unnecessary, and hope that they get through this awful trial, and that Em can be rescued.
But gee whiz, get on with it, willya? The first half of this movie spends so much time setting up the family dynamics that the supernatural shenanigans - and that's why we're there, guys, not for the family soap - come almost as an afterthought, and seem rushed.
The potential which this film had is completely lost in ploddy pacing.
Oh, and by the way, you can lose the "based on a true story" title card - it no longer convinces.