The Possession Experiment

Let me start off by saying that I have never seen a more uneven film in my entire life. The movie starts off fairly competent; a girl is possessed, and we witness the events that transpire during her exorcism. The director did a great job giving the scene a nice, gritty aesthetic, with some great shots in and around the house that resembled a stylish music video. Once the first scene is set up, the nose dive in quality is so abrupt, I really have no idea how they could have ruined this movie to such a drastic degree.

After the exorcism, the movie continues in a college classroom, with some of the worst acting by a professor I have ever witnessed. Gone is the music video aesthetic, as the movie now more closely resembles an amateur porn shot on an iPhone 4. There is no more stylized direction, as the movie now takes a more "found-footage" approach of poor direction, even worse acting, and some questionable dialogue that is pulled off with the skill of a community theater reject cast.

The movie jumps between the "possession house" and the school/street several times throughout its run time, and I just can't fathom how the director could be this schizophrenic with his directorial decisions. It almost seems like two people directed this movie; one was talented and did all of the shots inside the "possession house", using creative vision, talent and an understanding of basic horror filmography. The other lacked any such qualities, refusing to showcase any ability or tact, and was tasked to handle any scene not in the house. It was quite jarring when you watch the film and the quality has such disparate highs and lows, and I really wish that the director took a step back and realized that he really should have aimed to have a consistent aesthetic throughout.

Then there is the acting; these people cannot act. The protagonist appeared to constantly forget his lines, the side kick was a joke, and all of the adults had the acting chops of a porn film extra. It was bad. I have never seen a film where bad acting does not immediately ruin the overall experience, but unfortunately, this continues the trend. I really wish that nepotism and friendships took a backseat to actually hiring people who will help you realize your vision. Some people should not be allowed to act, ever. This movie proves this in spades.

Overall, this film has me at a crossroads. On one side, I liked how the film looked inside the house. The creative vision was well realized, and even with the bad acting, it made the movie at least visually appealing. But anything outside of the house was simply horrendous. This movie jumps between being a good B movie to being a horrid D movie too often to get a real, definitive score, so I'll just give it a 5 for the sole fact that I made it all the way to the end without falling asleep. It deserves at least that much.