GRACE: THE POSSESSION (2014)

Grace: The Possession (2014)
Directed by: Jeff Chan
Written by: Chris Pare, Jeff Chan, Peter Huang
Starring: Alexia Fast, Daniel Arnold, Lin Shaye, Madeleine Arthur

GRACE THE POSSESSION (2014)
Directed by Jeff Chan

Grace is brought up by her over religious Catholic grandmother when her mother dies during childbirth. At 18 years of age, Grace attends college much to the dismay of her grandmother. After a shaky start to college life, including trying to fit in with others, Grace begins to make friends and enjoy herself even if her religious upbringing has stunted her growth as a young woman compared to that of her vodka-swilling roomate. However, with increasingly frightening and violent nightmares and hallucinations whilst she is awake, Grace begins to fear for safety of herself and those around her and begins to ask questions of her deceased mother she never knew…

Shot almost entirely in first person, GRACE: THE POSSESSION puts the viewer in the shoes of the lead character. Whilst this effect works to a point, the slight shaky cam and first person angle triggers my motion sickness and made it a struggle to watch. Compared to other first person films though, this one is on the milder side of the motion sickness scale. However, the gains from shooting as first person instead of third don’t really seem that impressive and I feel as though the film would have worked just as well using a static camera shot as most movies do.

Grace is a shy, polite young woman who struggles with her life. Due to her grandmother’s strict religious upbringing, she’s forced to fear anything that could be classed as sinful: drinking alcohol, having sex, masturbation, etc. Even her clothes are influenced by her grandmother’s beliefs, resorting to long dresses that cover much of the skin. Deep inside herself, Grace wants to explore these “sins” and enjoy her life, but most of all, fit in with her friends and maybe find a boyfriend of her own. The increasing daytime hallucinations Grace suffers raises questions about her mother’s own mental illness but her grandmother insists God is the only cure for her. Can Grace battle these two conflicting sides of her psyche?

Setting Grace’s awakening at a college was quite a good idea for GRACE: THE POSSESSION, however that particular side to the story almost seems like filler as the plot moves away from the college half way through the film. What results is a movie that feels like two halves of two different films which struggle to flow right into one another, with the latter half of the story resorting to territory we’ve seen before in possession movies. However, seeing the action from first person point of view does give a rather interesting take on the familiar surroundings.

GRACE: THE POSSESSION is quite a slow burner though decent performances from Lin Shaye as the grandmother and Alexia Fast as Grace keep you watching. Despite the run-of-the-mill possession tale, the film injects quite a few good ideas, particularly at the end of the movie. The trouble with possession movies though is that we’ve seen it all before and it’s an incredibly hard genre to reinvent.

If you’re looking for scares or true horror, you won’t find it with GRACE: THE POSSESSION, but if creepy tales of religion and demons are your thing, then you might find something to enjoy in this movie.

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