An 11 year old boy starts throwing temper tantrums, vomiting on and attacking people, and swearing uncontrollably. Furniture begins to move on its own when he is around, and he doesn't remember any of it. After giving up on the protestants, the boy's parents turn to the catholic church for help. Father Bowden is a WWII veteran who is experiencing nightmares, flashbacks and other personal problems, including alcoholism. He is recruited by the archbishop to perform a series of exorcisms. This is the apparent true account of the last exorcism known to have been done by the catholic church.
Similar titles
You May Also Like
Reviews
You won't be disappointed!
Sick Product of a Sick System
Excellent adaptation.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
"Possessed" is a rather entertaining, if clichéd version of this genre.**SPOILERS**After surviving World War II, Father William Bowden, (Timothy Dalton) spends his time either teaching missionary school or getting into fights with the police. A local young boy, Robbie Mannheim, (Jonathan Malen) soon gets his attention after a series of events that no one can explain. His parents, Phyllis, (Shannon Lawson) and Karl, (Michael Rhoades) desperate to get him fixed, offer to have him come over to the house to see what is wrong. At first thinking it is nothing more than a joke, he soon becomes convinced that the kid may indeed by possessed by the Devil. After several unsuccessful attempts to exorcise him, they try one last time to get rid of the demon inside.The Good News: When this one tried to, it had some really great parts. One thing it gets right is that it starts off with the possession early on. Around twenty minutes in, the strange events that signal the possession start off. This starts off with the usual acts that indicate this, and from there it gets better. The confrontation ins the priest's house that signals the start of something weird happening, is the film's best scene, and is right in the middle of the freaky occurrences. Starting off with the sight of objects moving about by themselves and progressing to include more extreme actions, this is a fantastic sequence that is a pure joy to watch. Even the little things thrown in, including the incredibly brutal arm-slicing with the corkscrew or the playful gag at the end, don't derail this. That it also gets quite creepy at times with the camera flashing on and off during the struggle and the wind blowing, even though it's all indoors, really makes it all the better. As expected, the exorcism scenes are all great fun, and that there's several of them appearing in the film is a pleasant surprise. The final battle is the best one, which is great fun and really intense. It really does end the film with a really good scene that incorporates some spectacle and a touch of realism. These here are the film's good parts.The Bad News: This here didn't have a whole lot wrong with it, but they were pretty major reasons. The biggest problem with it is that it never once does anything new or original with the possession angle. This feels just like every other film in this style. There's a ton of these filling up every part of the film. From the excessive cursing and religious searing to the demonic over-lapping voices to puking and overt sexual references and so much more clichés from this genre that it's simply too much at times. This is so filled with clichés from the past types that there's hardly any sense of originality in the film. That can be a really bad sign, since this is such a touchy genre to begin with. It can be really hard to find originality in this style without retreading on the past, which this one does quite efficiently. There's a couple of other flaws with this one, while the main one here is just the extreme repetition.The Final Verdict: While not the best example of this genre, this does have enough to make it watchable even though it doesn't do anything new. This is simple, as fans of this would be entertained with it, while those who don't really enjoy possession films should steer clear of this one.Rated R: Extreme Graphic Language, Violence and intense religious issues
One of the first underrated films of the new millennium, Timothy Dalton stars in a most gripping look at the art of Exorcism by taking the actual case, making minor changes for the cinema screen and ultimately delving into the emotional aspects of the boy and his family.All doubters of this film complain that it completely rips off The Exorcist and rehashes all aspects that made the 1973 blockbuster a hit, but while there may be many things similar, including the suffering the boy goes through in the duration of his possession, you cannot help but realise the genius behind this movie: this is what really happened.None of the characters are fictional, this boy Robbie was really possessed. And with such classic elements of real occurrences, including the urine expulsion; words on the skin and furniture movement, it's hard to really put this movie down on your blacklist unless you are ignorant and nailed to the fictional story of The Exorcist.Don't expect to be frightened by this movie, rather intrigued. This is not a scary movie, it is simply an interesting film detailing the only American Demonic Possession recorded.Overall, 8/10, the directing and screenplay was brilliant, however the actor playing the possessed child was an awful choice, with amateurish handling and this child looking like he's having too much fun playing the role. This being a big change from the Exorcist, where Linda Blair went mad after filming and underwent serious councelling to regain her head.
Sorry, I see a lot of you enjoyed this movie, but, I think it was one of the most awful cheezoid productions I've ever wasted two hours of my life watching (and, for reference, I saw "The Tuxedo").Timothy Dalton's acting (or, should I say, overacting) was tortured, belabored, and felt very ungenuine. He wasn't acting as if he were a priest; he was acting as if he were wearing a priest suit.The little possessed boy was the only one who stood a chance. He acted wonderfully. However, the non-existent technical direction made me cringe: the entire audio department on this movie should have to write letters of apology. When I saw the movie earlier this week, I thought it had been made in 1980, so poor were the technical details.If I had to choose between Possessed and The Exorcist, The Exorcist would win, hands down, every day of the week and twice on Sundays. It was, at least, entertaining.
Yes, or course there are the usual amount of cliched semi-plots that add to the character development and have nothing to do with the story, but POSSESSED is quite good. Not really scary to me, but if you are a religious person, then it is quite possible that this movie will f*** you in the head! So be warned. Take the same warning for THE EXORCIST. Both of these films are similar (because one inspired the other) and they are both disturbing.The ending of this film was not as good as I was hoping, but the rest of the film was pretty much everything I wanted. The acting is cheesy in some cases, but Timothy Dalton and Christopher Plummer both do good. I recommend all those other demon movies, like THE EXORCIST, END OF DAYS, LOST SOULS, BLESS THE CHILD, and STIGMATA.POSSESSED: 4/5.