The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

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The Possession; same suspense, different demon

     

Courtesy of MCT

Once again they have created an exorcism film that is nothing more than just another possession with a different set of events.
The Possession that made its debut on Friday is based on a true story. According to an article from the LA Times the box which is called a dybbux box, a cursed jewish box, was sold for $280 through eBay.

      Just like the films Amityville Horror, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and The Haunting in Connecticut which were also based on true events, the Possession is predictable but with a somewhat different look.
       The film tells the story of 10-year-old Em, played by Natasha Calis, discovering the box in a yard sale. The box was put for sale just days after the box tortured its previous owner. After opening the box, Em begins to change her attitude and becomes attached to the box. A demon has escaped from the box and is now taking over her body.
       This film’s storyline has been told before. A broken family goes through hardships when one member gets possessed by a demonic entity. The family, then, has to hurry to force out the spirit before it has taken full control.
       The suspense is overdone. In every horror film it’s the suspense that usually tries to scare the audience. The suspense only warns that something is coming. In this film the suspense leads to nothing. The suspenseful scenes are only there to warm up the crowd for the right moment to scare them.  It is too bad it failed. The suspense of the box opening on its own is scary but there was an expectation of a hand or a head coming out of the box not moths.
     The special effects, more specifically the lighting, is dull. There is a perfect moment for everything. There is a perfect moment to start the flickering lights and there is a perfect moment no to.  The flickering lights when the demon made its appearance was just trying to add fear to a demon that looked like a crawling baby. In that particular scene it didn’t need the lights since the demon just wasn’t scary.
    Unlike other exorcism films, this movie took a different direction and made the linked religion Jewish. Another interesting thing this film does that other films haven’t was link the possession with technology. In other films, medicine could not determine the sickness that takes control over the possessed. In the Possession, during an MRI, the demon can be seen lurking in Em’s body.
Natasha Calis’ performance, on the other hand, was a little dreary in the beginning of her possession but she recovers herself once the demon gets stronger. Her gags, as the demons fingers begin to poke from the back of the throat, come off as painless. The hand that crawls beneath her cheek’s looks like she is trying to spit something out. Once the demon becomes stronger, Calis’ pain begins to become more realistic. Her need to eat raw meat, crawl through the floors and the moths that come out of her mouth turn into gruesome images and betters her acting.
Despite the endings predictability, one thing’s for sure the Possession has caused fear of buying antiques from a yard sale. 2 and a half out of 5
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