A Major Disappointment

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

"The Possession of Joel Delaney" is another of those interesting little films that's worthy of more attention than it probably usually gets. Despite the presence of the word "possession" in the title, it's not that much of a horror film, although it has some very creepy and uncomfortable moments. It's a deliberately paced thriller with a fair amount of social commentary and which gives the viewer a look into the religion of Santeria. A gorgeous Shirley MacLaine stars as Norah Benson, an affluent NYC resident who dotes on her devil may care younger brother Joel (Perry King, who gets an official "introducing" credit here). Soon into this story Joel starts acting out a lot, sometimes ranting in Spanish, and Norah discovers that an unkind spirit has taken over his body. Those with short attention spans may find their mind wandering as this story (scripted by Matt Robinson and Irene Kamp, based on a novel by Ramona Stewart) takes its time to play out, but some may find it fascinating as it takes a main character who's actually a little bit of a snob and forces her to enter a world that she may never have known had fate not intervened. Director Waris Hussein has a field day with all of the little details that go into telling this tale, and gets fine performances out of his cast. MacLaine is wonderful as a woman willing to do anything to help her tortured sibling, while King is completely convincing in delineating two different personalities. Among the supporting cast are David Elliott and Lisa Kohane as Norahs' children, Lovelady Powell as the psychiatrist, Barbara Trentham as Joels' lady friend, Miriam Colon as Norahs' maid, and Edmundo Rivera Alvarez as the occult expert to whom Norah turns for help. There are some truly macabre occurrences here, such as the sight of a severed head hanging by its hair, but the climax is some extremely twisted stuff; just the fact that it involves the possessed Joel making his young nephew strip naked is unnerving beyond belief. This may well leave a bad taste in the mouths of the audience. But overall the film is nothing if not intriguing and it delivers a reasonably effective, very '70s ending. Controvery aside (we all know there's no way something like this would be allowed today), this stands up as an absorbing enough viewing that relies on atmosphere and performance rather than special effects or spectacle. Seven out of 10.

Films dealing with the subject of voodoo usually leave me cold. This left me lukewarm. Set in New York, the story focuses on Joel Delaney (Perry King), the brother of Shirley MacLaine. Delaney has been picked up by the police for beating a man. Later, he is accused of murder. As the title states, Delaney is possessed by the spirit of a killer. There's no originality here, but there is some courage in the writing. The climax pushes the envelope -- the 70's envelope, anyway -- and is satisfying enough. There is a lot of slow moving mumbo-jumbo and the obligatory scene -- where psychics attempt to get in touch with the bad spirit -- is predictable. Shirley MacLaine is very good in the lead role, as is Perry King. The film edges towards an incest subplot and features a scene you wouldn't see in a studio film today -- a little boy dancing nude on a table. Director Waris Hussein came from TV, and it shows. The film is not big on cinematic compositions, looking more like a TV movie than one meant for the big screen. Lower your expectations and you might enjoy this relatively obscure item from the 70's.

The Possession of Joel Delaney is interesting for the fact that it's a horror film starring Shirley Maclaine, but the interesting elements end there unfortunately. The film focuses on Maclaine's character and her brother Joel Delaney. Joel begins acting strangely after a phone call and she decides to take him in to help him get over it. However, strange events continue to occur and she soon discovers a link between her brother and a serial killer who terrorised the city years earlier. The film certainly could have been interested and indeed there are films with similar plots that are really good; but this one just doesn't have enough excitement and the fact that it's pretty much impossible to care for any of the main characters doesn't really help it. The plot takes in the idea of mixing two different cultures but it never really comes off, mostly because it's too hard to care about it. The acting is mostly lacklustre and even the central actress doesn't stand out, which is a shame considering she is the only interesting thing about the film. It drones on for about an hour and a half (seems like longer) and builds up to the ending, which is not interesting and rather distasteful. I have no problems with bad taste, but it just doesn't fit here and feels included only to provide a talking point. This is a film best left in obscurity!

This movie pushes an obvious agenda, and fails. It is supposed to be some kind of commentary on the conflict between traditional supernatural beliefs of immigrants and the cold superficial rationalism of urban secular America, and the gap between the upper and lower classes. But I didn't feel while watching it that the director had any real concern for these worthy subjects - he just wanted to scare the audience with cheap shocks and distasteful taboos, and those don't create a better horror movie than the usual run-of-the-mill slasher/exploitation. The reason why the horror movies of Cronenberg, Polanski, and Craven work so well is that their very-real sociological subtext is buried just under the surface - the director is one step ahead of the audience, and the audience feels disturbed and helpless but can't fathom why. Their movies don't feel the need to rub the audience's nose in it in every scene like this one does. In fact, it seems as if this movie is working from some master-list of taboo subjects to cover - so it can proudly put check marks next to incest, mental illness, drug abuse, classism, divorce, suicide, Latino stereotypes, child nudity, possibly homosexuality, and dog food consumption. Very much a product of its time - the early '70s, when better movies pushed the social boundaries to enhance rather than replace a strong storyline like this one does. The movie also just doesn't make sense. The sound is lousy, and the editing is simply bizarre - sometimes cross-cutting head shots of Shirley MacLaine with completely different facial expressions. There are unimportant scenes and subplots that don't belong in the movie, and many others that belong in it but inextricably aren't there (such as the entire backstory about Perry King's character - he seems to walk into the movie already half-crazy). Is there supposed to be an unexpressed incestuous relationship between Shirley MacLaine's character and her brother? Who cares? Are all the Puerto Ricans in NYC part of a creepy religious cult? Looks like it. With some of the most lazy direction I've ever seen in a big budget film, I really wonder whether the director wasn't on drugs or something. The one worthy scene in the movie is a "traditional" Puerto Rican exorcism with drums and dancing which forms a very different counterpoint to the Max Von Sydow scenes in "The Exorcist."