Movie Review: The Possession

Runtime: 92 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: August 31, 2012
Director: Ole Bornedal

An older woman is sitting at home and trying to find a way to open an old wooden box. The woman tries to break it open, but something grabs her and tosses her around the room. Her son suddenly arrives and starts banging on the door, but she remains passed out on the floor.

Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Supernatural) recently went through a divorce with his wife Stephanie (Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer). It apparently didn’t slow her down any because she’s already dating a dentist named Brett (the yummy Grant Show, Melrose Place) who makes breakfast for them and hangs around a lot. Clyde takes his daughters Hannah and Em for the weekend and shows them his new house. Em seems a little upset because it means her parents aren’t getting back together.

On the way home, Hannah makes her dad stop at a yard sale because he needs dishes and silverware. Em finds herself drawn to an old wooden box with weird inscriptions on the sides, and Clyde buys it for her. When she wants to open it later, he can’t find a way to get the lid off. Later, the box mysteriously comes open, and she finds a dead moth, a tooth, and a ring, which she puts on her own finger.

Clyde tells the girls that he saw raccoons on the front porch. A few days later, they come home and find something in the kitchen. The thing rushes out the doggy door, and Clyde assumes it was an animal because he finds the refrigerator open and food all over the floor. Em begins developing an attachment to the box, even taking it to school with her and getting into a fight with another child. Just as Clyde starts thinking that there might be something more to the box, Stephanie begins doubting his role in their lives.

What can you say about a movie where a man’s teeth actually begin falling out of his head? That scene alone made the movie. The other scene that got to me was when the little girl was standing in front of the bathroom mirror staring at something in her throat. As she held a flashlight in her hand, she saw fingers coming up her throat. Granted the trailer showed that scene frequently, but it still got to me.

It’s funny because when I left the theater after seeing The Possession, I didn’t think it was very good. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that I actually enjoyed it. I do have to admit that I have a crush on Morgan, but he’s looking a little rough here, which gave me the chance to stare at Grant Show. I can definitely see myself watching this again when it lands on DVD.