The Rite (2011)

Director: Mikael Håfström
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Ciaran Hinds, Alice Braga, Toby Jones, Ruther Hauer, Colin o’Donoghue. USA. 1h 54m

Loosely based on a book that centres around a real life priest Father Grey Thomas, this choppy and sentimental possession movie attempted to enlighten viewers with real possibilities of demonic possession and gives a more relaxed approach to exorcism process, sometimes it takes times to battle a demon but in the ending showdown the movie reverts back to the classic trope of a priest vs demon verbal slagging match.

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.

El día de la bestia / The Day of the Beast (1995)

Click the banner for the full listDirector: Alex de la Iglesia .
Starring: Alex Angulo, Santiago Segura and Armando de Razza. Spain. 1h 43m.

I stumbled on this movie by total accident and I’m shocked that it’s been out for more than 2 years before I became fully aware of it’s awesomeness. Some plucky young soul used a gif from the movie in a twitter discussion and it looked so freaking amazing, I knew this film was made for me, and thus my search began. Luckily it only took a year or two to track it down. Now that I’ve finally watched this almost perfect movie I am only bitter that it has taken me this long to discover it.

Deliver Us From Evil (2006)

Director: Amy J. Berg
Starring. Oliver O’Grady. USA. 1h 41m.

There comes a time when people just need to own up to the shit they did, however evil and intense, the humane search in the void for an unbiased look into such confessions from budding director Amy J. Berg is perfect in its direct candid approach but it only makes everything seem so much more sinister, not that it’s a easy subject to view in the first place.

Amy J. Berg conjures up a quiet and peaceful atmosphere for setting her subjects, primarily Irish priest Oliver O’Grady, with lots of shots in churches and decorative offices, the focus is entirely on the person trying to tell their story and this is totally important with docufilms.

Belzebuth (2017)

Director: Emilio Portes.
Starring. Joaquin Cosio, Tate Ellington, Tobin Bell, Aurora Gil. Mexico. 1h 54m.

Whenever I need a real horror fix I usually find it within the ranks of non English, or at least non Hollywood movies, the last thing which really rocked my boat was the Turkish blazer, Baskin (2015) and the aptly named Aterrados/Terrified (2017) from Argentina to name a few, but in nearby Mexico I found a gem in Belzebuth. I was quite pleasantly surprised about this violent demonic film from seasoned director Portes, who’s mainly known for his fast paced action comedies, so to see him traverse this new genre like a pro says much about his outstanding directorial qualities and hopefully we’ll see more from him in the future, with this blinding spiritual sequel to Pastorela (2011).

The Blackcoats Daughter (2015)

AKA February
Director: Osgood Perkins
Starring: Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton, Lauren Holly, James Remar. USA. 1h 33m

After an influx of “The Exorcism of [insert name here]” movies, Osgood Perkins hits back with an edgy and slow drifting art house approach to the saturated possession genre that insists on it’s audiences full attention; as it pulls them through a mid winter drama filled with tense dark undercurrents that chilled the cast before filming and has made it’s fans think and overthink the terrifying and mind bending finale.

Perkins struggled to get the film released despite it being loved at many film festivals, but after a change of name from February to the more sinister Blackcoats Daughter. Something which sounds like it came from an old rhyme or has a deeper historic meaning but it simply doesn’t. It’s these little touches which helped to confuse the audience and adds to the films mystery, Perkings does analogise that the blackcoat could be a priest or the devil, both have often been credited for dressing in black but he just simply liked the sound of the words together and it’s up to his audience to make what they will of it. Perkins has a talent for creating deeper mythologies within the narrative of his film projects and allowing interpretation, while this openness could be seen a wild genius, it can also become grating

1st Summoning (2018)

Director: Raymond Wood.
Starring. Hayley Lovitt, Jason MacDonald, Teddy Cole, Brook Todd, Ace Harney. USA. 1h 37m.

Knowing that this Indie Movie is both found footage and about possession it’s a no brainer what’s going to happen, check out my list of what to expect in a possession, exorcism and demonic movie. but with indie movies, there’s usually a degree of experimental artistic license and providing they don’t play it safe, there can be amazing results. Sadly this film falls into most of the typical plot holes and ends up flopping around like a dying priest before expiring in it’s own unoriginal mess.

The Cloth (2013)

THE CLOTH

(Horror, Supernatural, Thriller, 2013) (15)  C: Danny Trejo, Eric Roberts, Rachele Brooke Smith. 1 h 28 min. USA

A godless man is recruited by a secret organization who works to combat demonic possessions in order to prepare a new generation in the battle against evil forces

TAGLINE : The battle for your soul, has begun!

Oh dear lawd, what an awful movie. The first thing you realise is the crazy lame monologue dialogue, no one has any emotion, the pauses are really long and it’s like a school play.. Actually I’d prefer to watch a school play because the little kiddies usually put some effort it. What else.. oh yes this is a blatant rip off on Constantine (2005) but the star is actually more wooden than Keanu (I never thought I’d ever say that), he gets some cool pokemon style demon fighting gadgets from a low budget M and a cool coat that totally helps him blend in with any crowd.

 

I think the basics of this movie is some unsuspecting youngster realises that he’s the ONLY HOPE FOR MANKIND!!! And he doesn’t want the responsibility, then due to his bloodline only he can use special weapons to fight demons (who are really people who have eaten a lot of blackjacks… black mouthed mofos) and some schit happens, this douchbag also dumps his gf while brushing his teeth.. *brush brush* I dunno how to say this but I don’t think this is working out  *brush – SPIT* I’m amazed he didn’t just drop his kacks and take a pinch a loaf too.

Yeah..anyways…

2/10