Review of Possessed

Introduction

Woo hoo! Jason here folks, and in my possession I have a corny anti-christ horror flick! It`s great whenever I get the chance to parade these discs in-front of my family, with them all being catholics and resenting this kind of stuff. But me on the other hand, well I`m a sucker for these things, even though I knew for a fact this was going to be absolute second rate compared to that cult 70s classic, which I dare not name. Yes, "Possessed" is a TV movie given the rare DVD treatment, and it stars Timothy Dalton. You know? That British actor who was made famous for his numerous roles as 007 (I looked him up over at the IMDB). The rest of the cast are relatively unknown to my knowledge, however, I still had slender hopes of this being a decent & worth-while viewing.

The premise is identical to that I shall not name, but with a few changes here & there to deceive us into thinking this is actually original. Willam Bowden (Dalton) plays the role of the cliche good priest, but in this re-make (that`s basically what it is), his assigned role has a little more depth. Malen is a religious man haunted by his past escapades in the war, where he lost a number of close friends & was brutally treated as a prisoner. Sure enough this pops up many times in the film, normally in the form of flashbacks, and is used to great effect in some scenes. Meanwhile, the athenist parents of Robbie Manheim, are forced to turn to Bowden for help & guidance as their child is deemed possessed by a satanic force.

So I dimmed the lights, put my arm around my imaginary girl-friend, and prepared myself for one corny-ass movie.

Video

Possessed comes in a standard full-frame format with a superb transfer rate. The colours are outstanding and well balanced without any sign of bleeding. Even during the darkest & foggiest of scenes, the disc copes exceptionally well and is a sheer pleasure to watch. I was pleasantly surprised.

The SFX are also put to good use, which leads to some very shocking & squeamish scenes that may stick in your mind for awhile.

Audio

Although this is only DD 2.0, it`s one of the most effective I`ve heard. It`s deep, bassy and very atmospheric.

Features

Very few simplistic additions are here in terms of extras, hence not much to write about. There`s of course a trailer, and also an in-depth selection of cast biographies. The photo gallery makes interesting observing for a few minutes, but this isn`t a strong sector of the disc. Weak.

Conclusion

Possessed exceeded my expectations and turned out to be a decent viewing. The acting is some of the best I`ve seen from a TV movie, and the SFX at times are worked to superb & shocking effect. Timothy Dalton was ideal for the lead role as the priest, the supporting actors were just as effective, with special mention going to the convincing Jonathen Malen, who played the possessed child.

This movie does rape the cult 70s classic, but at times it actually surpasses it in terms of shock value! The profanity is MUCH stronger, and the moving furniture concept is played to much better effect here. At times it does seem to turn into a spoof (the urination scene is hilarious!), but nothing stops this from being an effective & disturbing viewing. If this was released 20 years ago, we could very well be still talking about it today.

Worth a look.