Possession Experiment (2016)

Director: Scott B Hansen
Starring: Scott B Hansen, Bill Moseley, Chris Minor, Nicky Jasper, Jake Brinn. USA. 1h 24m

Considering how popular Found Footage movies are, I’m surprised that this hasn’t been done by a bigger studio. Our fascination with watching online train wrecks, drama and spooky videos are all satisfied with this somewhat inventive horror that starts well but sadly falls into too many horror clichés before burning out.

The budget seems to have been spent on Bill Moseley 5 minute intro where he plays a priest performing a fairly clumsy exorcism on a young girl in the basement of a house, the lords prayer is used instead of Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, and a few lines are missing, the scene is shot well but doesn’t make sense, at one point the girl with all the stereotypical garb, long dark hair, spewing Latin and a long white nightgown, levitates and attacks, everyone just watching her or running away and she’s only challenged after dispatching the unfortunate man not before. Personally I’d have believed the scene more if Mosley was the possessed and not a priest, could you imagine letting him rip in a role like this!!?? Either way the exorcism is an utter failure and the filming of it leaks out and sparks some interest from a young man who desires something meaty for his theology homework assignment, after investigating the original site and getting spooked by a potential haunting, he devises a kick starter to return to the site and actively offering himself up to be possessed on a live web cast.

Possession Diaries (2019)

Director: Juan Frausto
Starring: Katherine Munroe, Johnny Ortiz .USA. 1h 33m

For a majority of my armchair criticism I am always asking for directors to try and bring something new to the genres that their film straddles, however in the case of the Possession Diaries, and similar uncreative movies, I see no problems with people trying their hand at the tried and tested tropes, but at least try to make your copy as solid as possible. For all the planning and effort going into this project, it just doesn’t come across as being as polished as it could and ends up being a tad boring.

Ouija Shark (2020)

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Director: Brett Kelly
Starring: Leslie Cserepy, Steph Goodwin, Kylie Gough, Robin Hodge, Satci Marie Lattery. USA. 1h 21m

Well I knew that Sharknado (2013) was going to open the flood gates of bizarre cheesy horrors but I couldn’t have predicted this one! A home grown horror from Brett Kelly with a long history of off key horrors including, Iron Soldier (2010) who isn’t Iron Man, Avenging Force (2010) who aren’t the Avengers at all, Pirates Quest for Snake Land (2009) *cough*and Spyfall (2014), you get the idea right? This instalment of fear follows a girl who finds a Ouija board while out swimming in the sea (or a lake) and throwing all caution to the wind she uses the board with her friends an act which unleashes a vicious shark spirit.

8213: Gacy House (2010)

Director: Anthony Fankhauser
Starring: Jim Lewis, Matthew Temple, Michael Gaglio, Brett A. Newton, Diana Terranova, Sylvia Panacione, Rachel Riley .USA. 1h 32m

You have to love a bad setup for a found footage movie?! Not only has John Wayne Gacy’s house been demolished and rebuilt but as he was executed in a prison, shouldn’t his ghost be residing there and it would be the victims ghosts still in the house or the land where they were killed?

Without much fanfare the movie begins with the team arriving at the house to set their equipment up, a mass of cameras are placed in every room, and once they are pointing to where no action will be caught clearly the investigation really starts. It has a slightly different setup up to a lot of the other paranormal researcher inspired movies, most teams usually have quite a lot of enthusiasm but this one is is filled with scathing skeptics and some crazed hippy wiccan woman who believes some rhyming spells will be able to protect them from some kind of evil entity or poltergeist. In all my years of armchair occultist I’ve never known of anyone asking the goddess to help in some kind of seance before I’m sure there’s some eyebrows raised to offering a t shirt of a friends young son (what? why?) to the spirit of a serial killer!!?

Ouija (2014)

Director: Stiles White
Starring: Olivia Cooke, Daren Kagasoff, Douglas Smith, Bianca Santos. USA. 1h 29m

This film is just constantly bad. I want to end the review there but I owe a full explanation, and here it is…

Ouija has become the in thing among teens and adults, that little edgy thing that divides groups of believers and non believers, those who see them as a parlour game and others who see them as elements of evil, every few years the mysticism about this “game” raises its head and creates more urban myths, believers and skeptical non believers. Along with this rise in fame comics, books, tattoos, movies and music are all heavily influenced by the spirit board and it’s planchette accessory.

I am Zozo (2006)

AKA Are You There?

Director:Scott Di Lalla .
Starring.Demetrius Sager,Courtney Foxworthy, Kelly McLaren, Caleb Courtney USA. 1h 25m.

As part of my Occult A-Z I have been watching some of the best and worst that cinema has to offer and pretty early on I was easily set on this being the end of the list but i’m afraid that the list will end on a low note.

I‘m a huge supporter of lower budget movies but what they lack funds they do have to make up with some passion, some drive, a bit of energy!! But this is little more than entry level horror, which is a shame as the whole Zozo mythos is pretty interesting and usually harbors a few jumps and sleepless nights.

Long Time Dead (2002)

Director: Marcus Adams
Starring: Joe Absolom, Tom Bell, Lara Belmont, Lukas Haas, James Hill, Alex Newman, Mel Raido, Marsha Thompson . UK . 1h 35m

When a was a youngster the local Odeon was my all time favourite place to hang out, sticky popcorn floors, ushers who didn’t age check you and tickets I could afford with my SU card, tons of free film postcards and on the odd occasion a seat that wasn’t stained. Sadly it closed around the early 2000’s but I had a handful of postcard adverts for films I planned to see before the doors shut, but I didn’t make it 😦

Long Time Dead was on the top of the pile but I totally forgot about it..  A few years ago I found a copy in a charity shop by the seaside and it’s alright.. I guess… It feels as if a British director was trying to make a Hollywood movie, and really Brits make amazing horrors without needed to fall into the American Cliché soup.

Veronica (2017)

Director: Paco Plaza
Starring: Sandra Escanaba, Bruna Gonzalez, ana Torrent, Claudia Picer, Ivan Chavero, Carla Campra. Spain. 1h 46m

So much about Veronica is like all the other ouija, catholic demonic inspired movies although it does have a few quirks and charms which make it stand out, not as something inventive and new but something relatable.

Veronica and her best friend have planned secret ouija based seance to contact Veronica’s deceased father, their golden opportunity is when the entire catholic school will be on the roof and outside to watch an eclipse.  There are are no awards to guess the rest of the movie, the ouija session goes terribly wrong and soon Veronica is the experiencing lots of paranormal activity around herself and home, but when this dark entity starts attacking her family, Veronica starts to research and does all she can to protect them.

Just because you close your eyes it doesn’t mean the world ceases to exist.

Plaza has found fame through a series of wholly gory Rec series which really broke through a new age of possession/zombie hybrids, and I believe like everyone else I was expecting the same from this movie which was initially billed as prequel.

3 Short DON’T Horror films

Often in horror movies there is some kind of  instruction, like Don’t go into the house (1979) and in the case of Nightmare of Elm Street (1984) Don’t ever sleep again..

So here are 3 short horror films with some more rules on what you shouldn’t do.

DON’T LOOK AWAY

This is quite a compelling short movie which captured my imagination, a teenage girl is being teased by her brother, when she noticed a man standing outside her house, he’s in a disheveled suit with a bag and chains over his head, her father warns her not to look away and that he’s on his way to help her. Not really taking the advice she asks her brother to watch the creature while she locks the doors, as her brother is a massive douche but on returning she can no longer see the man but her brother still can, where has HER spectre gone? What’s going on?? Hopefully daddy is on his way to rescue these lovelies soon.

For a short movie it’s made well and the acting is fairly natural, the concept of this ghoul like character who reminded me of something that could have cropped up in Thirteen Ghosts (1960/2001). It has a great urban legend feel to it and with some working I reckon this could make a decent horror.. I think I just want to know how this creature came about really..