POSSESSION

Possession (2009)
Directed by: Joel Bergvall & Simon Sandquist
Written by: Michael Petroni, Won-mi Byun
Starring: Lee Pace, Michael Landes, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Tuva Novotny & Dhirendra

FILM: Possession

DIRECTED BY: Joel Bergvall & Simon Sandquist

STARRING: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Lee Pace, Michael Landes, Tuva Novotny & Dhirendra

RATING: 15

Out Now To Rent and Buy

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaYJgTwhOmU[/youtube]

What is it all about?

Jess has the most perfect of marriage. Her husband Ryan loves her completely. He sends her love letters every day, buys gifts and lavishes her with passion that every girl would want. But Jess takes him for granted, even forgets their wedding anniversary and there is also the added troubles of his brother Roman who lives with them. The complete opposite of Ryan, this man is a brute who cares for no one apart from himself. After overhearing that Jess wants him out, Roman storms off with his bags packed and drives recklessly over a bridge. In a twist of fate, he crashes head on into his brother’s car leaving them both for dead. Jess is heartbroken to hear her husband will never recover but when Roman wakes up her life changes forever. Roman claims to be Ryan, somehow his soul is in the body of Roman, but can Jess believe a man who was born to lie…….

The Hughes Verdict

Possession finally arrives on DVD after being sat on the shelves since 2009, but was the wait worth it?

For a start I had to have a real good moan and complain about the marketing of this film. First the title is totally unfitting for the whole concept. It makes the film sound like a full blown ghost flick that will be lapped up among all horror fans. We also have the daft quote that says “From the Executive Producers of The Ring and The Grudge” which again makes it sound like this is going to be a new J Horror rip off. Then if you add the name Sarah Michelle Geller to the mix, the woman who starred in films like The Grudge and The Return, well you can see why even I when I sat down tonight to watch this, was expecting a film on these lines.

Take my advice, Possession despite the ghoul looking cover is not a horror. Why did they feel the need to advertise and sell this film like that? I suppose the reason is that they thought if they could fool some people then they my make their money back, but I can see why there be those who will sit down and watch this and go ape crazy and what is on offer.

For me personally it was a welcome surprise. I am not saying the film is a work of art, even though there are some fancy arty shots by the duo directing team of Bergvall & Sandquist, but even I am totally sick of all these films trying to be the new Ring. Thankfully the boom of those films have died now thanks to the many flops and being milked to death (take note found footage) but I was thinking that Possession may be trying to take the last ounce of quality left in the genre even though I very much doubted it.

“So why watch Hughesy?” I hear you cry. Well it was because of Sarah Michelle Geller, yes Buffy herself, a woman who I will always find time for because I simply adore the TV show that made her famous and nooooooooooo I am not talking about Ringer here. Geller seems to have sunk into B Movie over the years which is sad really because the girl could have easily have done a few action films because she surely kicked ass as the Slayer and also proved she can act the bitch in the superb Cruel Intentions. Geller simply has been underused over the years and now she pays the bills by starring in films like these but to her credit, Possession is not as ghastly as it could have been.

Now before you all rush down the DVD Stores to rent and buy and go “Well it must be good”, let me finish. The biggest surprise for me like I said was the fact that this turned out be more thriller than horror. Even after the evil brother wakes up and states he is the nice brother, I was expecting some kind of freaky shit to happen. You know the kind, long haired white faced women screaming towards the camera while crawling up the wall’s, or dark shadows at every opportunity. The fact that this never materialised and I slowly discovered that this was in fact a film centred around if a man is lying or not, well made it kind of decent, even though the thriller on show was born more in the 90’s than the now!

The fact remains despite the unexpected tone, the film offers nothing new and many fans will have seen this all before. Also because it plays out more like a soap opera is one of the reasons why this sat on the shelves for nearly three years. Here we have all the ingredients of a storyline that Joey from Friends would say he was all set to be in with his role in Days Of Our Lives. Two brothers, one evil, one bad. A beautiful girl in the middle of them in which one is in love and one could be in love, a terrible car crash involving the two and then the good brother left for dead and never to wake up but the evil one does come around from the deep sleep but then claims to actually be the good brother and soon the wife is sleeping with him despite her doubts.

Phew…that is some complicated shit!

But really, despite it all, the story is lazy and really predictable. Is Roman saying the truth and he is possessed? Well I guess many of you will see the sudden plot twists a mile off and even when the climax hits, its so lame and over far too quickly to offer any tension and suspense.

Despite the best intentions of Geller, Possession is a film that was marketed badly to really be given a chance, if they sold this as the melodrama with a hint of thriller that it is, then maybe it would reach the audience it is intended for but because of the way they have sold it, Possession will be critically mauled by the horror crowd and missed by the soap fanatics and sadly that means another nail in the coffin of Geller’s faltering career and make no mistake……the girl deserves better!

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