Synopsis
A young girl buys an antique box at a yard sale, unaware that inside the collectible lives a malicious ancient spirit. The girl's father teams with his ex-wife to find a way to end the curse upon their child.
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Cast
- Jeffrey Dean MorganClyde Brenek
- Kyra SedgwickStephanie Brenek
- Natasha CalisEmily 'Em' Brenek
- Madison DavenportHannah Brenek
- Rob LaBelleRussell
- MatisyahuTzadok Shapir
- Quinn LordStudent
- Jay BrazeauProfessor McMannis
- Jim ThorburnMan
- Erin SimmsPossessed Italian Girl
Recommendations
- 88
Chicago Sun-Times
Like "The Exorcist," the best film in the genre, it is inspired by some degree of religious scholarship and creates believable characters in a real world. That religions take demonic possessions seriously makes them more fun for us, the unpossessed. - 70
Movieline
This variation on the demon child subgenre has enough of the familiar and the new to be a decently good time at the movies. - 60
Arizona Republic
Ole Bornedal's film hits enough high notes to make it a worthwhile addition to the exorcism-film heap, somewhere in the lower middle. - 50
The Hollywood Reporter
Representing a sort of equal opportunity religious variation on an all-too-familiar theme, The Possession is a Jewish-themed "Exorcist" that, if nothing else, should discourage the practice of buying antique wooden boxes at flea markets. - 50
Variety
A ho-hum exorcism chiller that tries to spice up a formulaic screenplay by converting a predominantly Catholic-fixated horror subgenre to Judaism. - 42
The Playlist
Here everything feels limp – simultaneously over and undercooked. It doesn't leave much of an impression and every scare seems to be either some lame jump scare or a fright inflicted by the shrill score. - 30
Village Voice
Bornedal's fondness for punctuating abrupt cuts to black with a solitary piano-key note is so pathological that it soon turns risible. - 25
The A.V. Club
The Possession attempts to breathe new life into a creaky old subgenre by taking its exorcist and demon from Jewish mythology, but even this backfires: The casting of Jewish reggae star Matisyahu would be distracting even if he weren't introduced singing softly to himself.
