Hebrew Hijinx

The Possession

Holy crap, kids!  It’s only 10 days until the witching hour!  I’m waaaay behind on this, but I’m gonna try to hit the film hard between now and next Thursday.  So hang on tight, it’s gonna be hectic.  First thing’s first.  Welcome again to the Unholy Cathedral, your source for scares.  This week I finally got around to watching a movie that’s been sitting on my floor for quite some time now.  The Possession is a movie that didn’t get much talk when it came out, most likely because everyone was making possession movies circa 2-3 years ago.  But it’s a Sam Raimi (Evil Dead) flick, so we can expect good things.

But it has some higher-profile stars in Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) and Kyra Sedgwick (Kevin Bacon’s Wife; disregard her film/tv career; having Kevin Bacon as your spouse takes precedent over all other things).  So I figured in worst-case scenario, there would be some decent acting.  As it turns out, I ended up enjoying this movie.  A solid start to the last stretch before All Hallow’s Eve.  So let’s jump in… or is it crawl out?

The Possession is the story of a family that has just gone through the divorce of the two parents, and their two daughters are learning to cope with visitations between the two parents.  One day when the girls are with their father, he takes them to a yard sale, where the younger daughter encounters a strange box.  Thinking it’s a pretty cool novelty, she insists that her father buy it for her.  But the box is strange… it sounds like it’s holding something inside, but yet has no seams to open it.  And it has some strange-looking markings on it.  Then things get stranger when the girl manages to open the box.  What are those whispers at night?  And where are these moths coming from?  Craps.

Into the box we go, for A Closer Look

Villain: A Demon contained within a dybbuk box that is seeking the one thing it does not have… life.

How Do I Stop It?: Hopefully you’re not careless enough to fall into this trap, but should you end up in this situation, you’d better seek some Hebrew Help immediately.  Likely going to require an exorcism.

Lessons Learned: Okay, so I don’t know how many blatant warnings this dumb girl had, but COME ON.  When a person in a body cast uses every ounce of energy to smack a window as they see you with the box, you should take a hint.  When you start hearing voices, you should probably take a hint.  When there’s effed up Hebrew markings scrawled on a yard sale box… WHY ARE YOU BUYING THAT?  You have a better chance with the most demented looking marionette doll you can find.  Hmm, might think twice about that one.  But you get it.

Who Do I Watch With?:  This one’s good for just about anybody.  Not super adult, but still has some scares.  Grab a date and enjoy.

Movie Trivia: Some creepy happenings took place during the filming of this movie.  Lights were reported to have exploded during the filming of some key scenes, and many of the props for the movie were destroyed in a fire that erupted from within a storage house.

Rating the Flick

Villain: 6/10.  Pretty good Demon we’ve got here.  There’s some pretty cool effects used in this movie that definitely make it different than your run-of-the-mill exorcism movie, and Raimi does a good job being original, yet keeping you on your toes throughout.

Scare Factor: 6/10. Above average scares.

This one’s certainly no walk in the park, but it also didn’t really send chills up my spine.  Again, there’s a lot of different ideas for bringing some scares, but also some classic ideas.  And let’s be honest… kids are pretty darn creepy.  Especially demon-infested ones.

Gore Rating: Slightly Bloody Machete (2/5)

Not exactly gory, as it’s a PG-13 movie.  But there are some scenes that are pretty disturbing, and if you’ve got a weak stomach, I could see it being a little troubling.

Overall Rating: 3/5 Vic Rattleheads (+1 for my first Megadeth reference)

In terms of Demonic possession movies, this one is up there for me.  It’s less focused on the whole “lets make their body do crazy unnatural things,” and more about just making the demon extremely evil.  The cast does a good job selling it, and there’s some good suspense along the way to keep you uncomfortable.  I think with a slightly darker tone, and some really good music, this could have been even better, but that’s not to say it was bad.  As I said above, this is a good way to kick off the home stretch toward Halloween.

Okay, so that’ll wrap up this review.  But I’m not done yet!  I know some of you have asked about recommendations for some scary flicks this Halloween season.  So here’s a few to get you started.  As usual, AMC is going buckwild starting this week, with horror movie marathons.  You can find plenty of the Halloween saga*, some Stephen King classics (Cujo, Silver Bullet), some of the Child’s Play saga, The Exorcist*, The Omen*… I could go on, but let’s just say that AMC nailed it this year.  Plenty of different movies for all tastes.

For the non-cable subscribers, you can rent one of the above for a classic flick.  Also, The Conjuring comes out on Tuesday on DVD, and that gets a big recommendation.  Or if you have yet to see Sinister… you really, really should.  That movie is really growing on me just due to how horrifically dark it is.

Finally, on Netflix you can find Pet Sematary, the original Carrie, Devil (underrated M. Night Shyamalan movie), and Let the Right One In.  Or if you’re into some classics, you can find a few of those too.  House on Haunted Hill (original) is good fun for sure.  OR, better yet, just go out on a limb and try something off the beaten path.  Maybe you’ll find a hidden gem.  Most likely not.  But in any case, go out and get some scares!  And also, be on the lookout, because there will likely be more reviews soon.

One final thing… If you guys carve pumpkins this year, tweet your works of art to me, @UnholyCathedral !  I’ll feature ALL of the pictures on my blog.

Until next time,  Carve some pumpkins!

-Dvo