iPossessed

Returning home from the war, a retired Army veteran decides to hold a housewarming party with his friends and family at a new farmhouse he's purchased, but when his struggles with the war threaten to interfere in the night, a demonic possession proves to be the least of his worries.

This was a fairly fun if somewhat flawed genre effort. When this one works well is due to the main setup involving the means of possession and how the group is caught up in the act. The initial gathering at the house and letting everyone go through their initial introductions showing them trying to bond over the past and what happened to them while they were in the war which starts to affect the rest of the trip gets this one off to a strong start with the whole thing bringing up the possession incredibly well. As the traumatic events in the past get shared and the idea of the possessed figure forcing them into the open to discuss the issues they've long since forgotten about and buried, it causes the film to delve into an uncomfortable series of discussions and revelations about what's going on that include infidelity, accidental pregnancies, and other incidents that are soon revealed leading to plenty of graphic deaths here for a lot to like about it. While these features come together rather well, the whole thing is soon undone by the inability to make the possession a prominent threat at the expense of the trauma porn the rest of the film delves into. After setting up the stages of the possession and whether it's true or not, the individual simply sits soundly doing nothing, letting the others play out their conversations without interference. This drastically reduces the tension and fear of what's going on by going for endless dialogue scenes about their tortured pasts and buried secrets, without getting the kind of supernatural action that was promised when it was initially brought about, that a demonic possession was bringing up. That causes the other issue here in that it focuses so heavily on these aspects of grief and trauma that it's not nearly as interesting or thrilling as it thinks it is going through the mindset as it falls into a series of cliches that are part of the genre inherently through using these tactics, all of which bring this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

IPossessed scratches every itch that is craved by a fan of the horror/thriller/paranormal genre. The film weaves together familiar elements of paranormal stories, while maintaining a distinct identity. It is FULL of unpredictable twists and turns, and pays off with an intense, jaw-dropping closing scene.

The acting was also very strong. Meghan Carrasquillo was very endearing as Zoe (and terrifying post-transformation as the demon.) I actually wished there was more of her in the second half of the film. Carl Rimi as Tad excelled as a veteran who seems to be experiencing a hard time readjusting to civilian life. Carl did a great job portraying intense emotions for a character who is set up to be rather stoic.

Overall, the strength of the film lies in the unique twists and the bold plot choices. Definitely worth the watch!

Well they are likable at first. The movie does a good job getting you invested in the characters before....ya know. It also has a few laughs but not too many. There's some heavier topics addressed (not including the ax murdering) that would have derailed the movie with too much "Ha Ha". I would have liked if the lore about the entity and the Creole Man was fleshed out a little more but the length of the movie was definitely spot on. I think the Creole Man might actually be the more interesting character. You will feel a bit of sympathy for sure. Balancing the development of 3 dimensional characters while keeping a tight run time seems to create a bit of a trade off which had me making "head cannon" to fill the gaps but the characters were better for it.

As a fan of Indy horror I've seen lots of great ideas and even more bad ones. IPossessed is a solid entry and does stand out from many of its peers.

Lastly Sebastian sucks (not the actor...sorry). I was very happy with how his story played out.

I felt the movie had a slow start but it definitely got better. I enjoyed the storyline. It certainly kept your attention and kept you guessing as to what was happening. There were a lot of little things to notice that were very cool. Once you got past the slow start, it got pretty exciting. The big negative for me was the acting - especially in the beginning and especially the main character. It felt like a bad horror film at first. Zoe and Buckley were top notch in their roles but Tad just didn't win me over. His acting felt forced. I really hope they have some success with this film as they have put their heart and soul into it.

We saw this film at a screening with the producers and actors. I had seen the trailer and thought I already had it figured out. I was surprised more than once and didn't expect the ending. The musical score was really well done and kept me feeling nervous/unsure what was about to happen. It was really cool to hear the producers explain some of the behind the scenes work that went into the film. Seems they really have put a ton of effort into this project and paid attention to the details. I typically go for silly comedies but enjoyed this more than I expected and it did a good job of delivering different perspectives on some complicated topics.