Opiniones de usuarios

The best laugh I've had for ages. This film borders so close on parody, I suspect unintentionally, but it is risible.

I have been watching horror films lately, which is a bit of a switch for me. I remember seeing the Exorcist films and even watched the second one again recently, wanting more of the inner life and workings of the priest, Father Merrin. This film far exceeds any I have seen dealing with this subject matter before (Emily Rose being a close second).

You have the usual Hollywood stuff thrown in, but what really gave this film such a high mark for me was the great masculine, spiritually focused portrayal by the main priest as played by Timothy Dalton. His characters friendship with the other priest and his inner life is exactly what I longed for in similar films dealing with exorcism but NEVER found. This is not a perfect film and Dalton does say one famous Betty Davis line that takes you right out of the film (I laughed) but its entertaining and I think riveting. More time could have been spent with the overwrought parents, especially the dad who seemed more possessed than the kid at times, and they didn't spend months working on the child as I think it took in real life, but all in all a good faith effort. Yes, a testimony in part of the fact that Jesus has Won and Wins and that saving souls is still important even in modern times. Rent the DVD and watch the extra (a real life interview with one of the priests involved in the exorcism).

I just saw this movie a few nights ago and even though the plot was predictable in places, the performances make it worth watching. Timothy Dalton's portrayal of a priest tormented by wartime flashbacks was quite believable and almost moving in parts. The exorcism rituals and events are more believable than those in The Exorcist and your don't need any previous Catholic upbringing to keep up.

Other than the paranormal events which occur, one can almost believe the child is simply a severely psychotic individual with a fixation on the afterlife and demonic imagery, which lends an air of credibility to the presentation. If you chose to believe the events have been exaggerated and the paranormal occurrences did not occur as documented then this story should sit well with you. Even those that take the account as accurate as told will find the story quite gripping.

Regardless of your level of belief I think just about all will find this story well told in this movie. Your disbelief will not need to be suspended very much to walk away from this film with a good impression.

Considering this was based on a true story that took place in the 1940's you would think 60 yrs later they could do a better job!

The main character is very badly cast even taking into account the boys age he is just not adequate for the role. Timothy Dalton as the priest is probably the films saving grace but even he can't carry a badly thought out cast and story.

The Excorcist will always be and remain the most scary and well produced and cast Horror in my eyes, that aside this movie offers nothing and some scenes I actually found comedic which is not what you expect in a horror not helped by the music score during some of the scenes either.

I can only imagine Timothy Dalton laughs or cries at this monstrosity.

In a genre of horror where films are 99% bad. This is the worst. By a distance.

The possessed kid is comically bad.

I looked up the dir. Steven de Souza's bio and he seems to be an un-stupid guy. But looks could be deceiving, perhaps. The movie is a series of stupid set pieces: -- American kid who has tons of things he is talented in, including not just ventriloquism, but even making the corresponding doll -- German soldiers shooting injured American soldiers, while Dalton and his injured buddy talk noisily10 paces away, until Dalton gets bayonated, but mind you, not shot -- Later, Dalton is a professor at Catholic university, in which he spews one-liner dialogues with a superficial slide show more apt in a popular grade school setting -- Dalton is also a major cheerer and informal coach of both basketball and football teams, and also fights with a referee in guess what, stinted set -piece dialogues -- Dalton bonds w/ the kid via their common multitude of American-style hobbies -- Dalton looking for exorcism books in a library, spies a book hiding behind other books whose title he can't read, and for no reason reaches for it clumsily but w/ determination, again, for no reason, and another set piece within a set piece: the book falls down mightily, and Dalton retrieves it -- The archbishop talking about the modern catholic church, anti-communist verbiage, says cannot allow a medieval practice like exorcism, but is convinced by Dalton in 1 minute, and gravely announces that he will -- A fight between the kid and Dalton at the edge of a precipice -- Suddenly for the exorcism session in the monastery, Dalton and his buddy priest discard their usual black colored and white collared priestly garb, and don shining white and gold flowing robes, and advance in Knight Templar fashion accompanied by a background score of what sounded like martial music.

And on and on. What these laughable things do is render a potentially serious and interesting spiritual-plus-horror narrative a superficial, bumbling, choppy farce.

Possessed is a cheesy. but great made-for-cable movie from Showtime. That's based on the true story of the demonic possession and exorcism of "Robbie Mannheim" (aka "Roland Doe"...both being pseudonyms to protect his identity)- which also just so happens to be the case on which the original The Exorcist novel and film were based.

This film, itself, is based off the 1993 book-of-the-same-name by Thomas B Allen; which heavily relies upon the accounts of Raymond J. Bishop and Walter H. Halloran- two of the priests who took part in the successful exorcism, during which a demonic entity by the name of Dominus was driven from the boy...who would then go on to lead a normal life.

In the film, we follow Robbie-a youngster who enjoys comic books and toy soldiers- whose parents are strict and sometimes overbearing. His grandmother, though, is a sort of mystic, who fosters his creativity...and teaches him about contacting spirits via the ouija board.

Shortly after her passing, unexplainable things start to happen around their family home: bizarre sounds without sources are heard, while inanimate objects are seen moving around on their own. Around the same time, Robbie starts to burst into violent, angry rages; speak in ancient languages; and exhibits extraordinary strength...as if he has become someone else entirely.

Terrified, his parents take him to see a Catholic Priest at Georgetown University Hospital. Here an exorcism is attempted by Priest named of Edward Hughes. Though, somehow during the process, the boy manages to pry a spring from the bed and use it to slice open the arm of the priest...cutting the ritual short.

Enter our two protagonists: Raymond J Bishop & William S Bowdern, who are both Professors and Priests at St Louis University. They are assisted by a younger Priest named Halloran, and together, the three men would subject Robbie to a number of ritual exorcism attempts. During these rituals, upwards of 48 people- including 9 Jesuit Priests- had witnessed the supernatural occurrences that had been exhibited through the boy.

Such events included the uttering of guttural voices; knowledge of Greek and Latin; the sudden, yet temporary, formation of words like hell and evil etched into the boy's skin; extraordinary feats of strength; knowledge of things he couldn't possibly have known; pissing; vomiting; profanity; and poltergeist activity.

Finally, after discovering the hidden name, date, and time of changing, left in clues uttered by the spiritual force possessing the young boy, Dominus. The three priests were able to drive the dark entity from the boy's soul. However, the Catholic Church oriented a full cover-up, after the fact.

Whereas some of the acting in this film is a bit cheesy, you've got to respect what they did with a clearly low budget. It has an appealing cult-style and contains some cool special effects. Overall, it is similar, in content, to films like The Entity; with a style reminiscent of The Changeling- which is probably the most realistic ghost film ever made. This is a film that is based on a story so wild, that it will change the way you look at the world. And this version keeps more true to the tale than does The Exorcist...so it's worth watching for that reason alone. Recommended.

6 out of 10.

The biggest problem with this movie is the kid. Ginger hair and freckles? Possessed by the Devil. Its not scary, its hilarious. The kid does a decent job, but he is horribly miscast. Timothy Dalton redeems things a bit with a convincing performance, which must have been almost impossible given the obvious handicap.

As a story it almost succeeds. As a scary movie it sucks.

I really enjoyed most of the movie,

This movie dose not take long to getting going and there are some good scenes in this movie but I would not say they are scary scene but really good for a TV movie.

the first 45 minutes of the movie were very entertaining and the one scene that surprised me as one really bloody scene, which I did not expect to see any bloody moment in this movie at all.

After the 45 mins mark. it kinda calm down. now and again for the next hour, there were some dull moment but they don't last for long but this movie could have been a little bit shorter, as it was little to long.

I really did enjoy how the movie came to a end, i thought it was really clever!, connecting the movie to flashback early in the movie.

The acting for this movie was really good from everyone in the movie. I going to give this movie 7 out of 10

A fictionalized version of the possession which was also the basis of THE EXORCIST, this film remains closer to the actual case than does the other. POSSESSED gives us a good cast approaching the topic rationally and with great dignity. The film begins without much of the traditional horror atmosphere, and that lends to the realism. Once the sense of reality has been created, there are some elements of the typical horror film, but they are well executed.

Set against the real horrors of the atomic age, the Cold War, and McCarthyism in the 1950s, the film is as powerful as THE EXORCIST but without using some of the FX. There are some genuine chills, and the story is well told, making the film well worth watching.

I couldn't figure out if this made for cable would be shocker was meant as a satire or not. Its not funny enough to be a comedy & not scary enough to be a thriller. It has the appearence of a movie that was rewritten by several different people. Parts of it are satirical send ups of 1950s Cold War paranoia as well as religious hyprocracy, parts of it are gory & parts are trying (unsuccessfully) to be frightening. In the hands of someone like David Lynch, Sam Raimi, Stuart Gordon or even Frank Henenlotter these parts could've gelled together & made an effective thriller & social satire. POSSESSED however is a bunch a parts that don't fit & the result is substandard cable fodder

Sorry, I see a lot of you enjoyed this movie, but, I think it was one of the most awful cheezoid productions I've ever wasted two hours of my life watching (and, for reference, I saw "The Tuxedo").

Timothy Dalton's acting (or, should I say, overacting) was tortured, belabored, and felt very ungenuine. He wasn't acting as if he were a priest; he was acting as if he were wearing a priest suit.

The little possessed boy was the only one who stood a chance. He acted wonderfully. However, the non-existent technical direction made me cringe: the entire audio department on this movie should have to write letters of apology. When I saw the movie earlier this week, I thought it had been made in 1980, so poor were the technical details.

If I had to choose between Possessed and The Exorcist, The Exorcist would win, hands down, every day of the week and twice on Sundays. It was, at least, entertaining.

Possessed is a good film for the exorcist genre and this shows throughout the film but this film has it downfall with the silly bits in there where highly where slightly predictable. Timothy dalton's performance is exceptional and was consistently good throughout the film , he portrayed a mental illness very well which can be hard to do for PTSD and was highly impressed with his performance. Sections of the film were silly and you could tell it was for t.v. but for the style of t.v. exorcist genre I would recommend to watch.

Sure THIS one is fact-based, but who cares when the facts are quite boring? The Exorcist was much better. I rather see something interesting yet loosely based on fact than something closer to the truth yet of the quality of a dramatization in a documentary. Not at any point during the course of the movie did I believe that that kid was possessed. However, he did remind me of that one kid from Problem Child. Now HE was possessed. John Ritter was funny in that though. I still watch reruns of Three's Company whenever I can...

-Al

I buck the tide of negative opinions of this film. It is not as salacious as "The Exorcist", which was written based on this true incident from 1949 mid-west America, and because we've become so used to vivid violence in movies, perhaps this movie suffers for not making up the details or punching them up to be more shocking to viewers. At any rate, I found it to contain an excellent performance by Timothy Dalton in particular and by the entire cast in general. Casting a red-headed, freckled boy caused at least one reviewer to mock the choice for the possessed child, but I remind everyone that Linda Blair was a cute, sugary-sweet child in "The Exorcist" as well, so I don't agree that this boy was a bad choice. Something really happened to a young adolescent boy in 1949 that was seen by and chronicled by many; it's amazing to me that his true identity hasn't slipped out after 60 years, but how do we know that he was NOT a red-haired, freckled child? I found the movie to be interesting and believable. No, it is not the most graphic horror film I've ever seen but it doesn't have to be. All it needs to do is to tell it like it really was, not how some writer imagines it, and I think that it succeeded very well in that way.

This would have been a really fine telefilm if only the director and/or screenwriter had made up their mind what kind of movie they wanted to make of this story. A subtle psychological drama where possession was only hinted at? Or an all-out, balls-to-the-wall action/revenge film (with holy water instead of M-16's)? About three fourths of the way through, this movie changes rather ludicrously from the former to the latter. In one particular non-dialogue moment, shortly after the two priests' pre-game pep talk in the monastery chapel, I was like, "No way. They DID NOT just go there!" (I won't give away what this moment was, but if you watch the DVD you'll know exactly what I mean.) That said, this is a very well produced and well acted project. Even though the tone shifts all over the place and is seriously off the chain at the end. Timothy Dalton gives a fine and accessible performance (albeit, as the type of priest that exists only in Hollywood -- the studly, hardbitten, chain-smoking, foul-mouthed, whisky-drinking, punch-throwing cynic with a Purple Heart and PTSD). His sometimes-American, sometimes-British accent is all over the map but you don't really notice after a while. By the end of the movie he is channeling Harrison Ford big time. He looks good and has several terrific scenes before everything goes completely over the cliff into silliness (the script and direction's fault, not his).

Dalton is ably backed up by Henry Czerny as another priest, by Christopher Plummer as an archbishop, and the actor playing the possessed kid is quite good too. It's just such a shame that as the film goes on, every scene seems to be taken out of a different playbook (Serious Drama! Psychological Complexity! Rambo!) and the actors have to all keep up as best they can. The fine cast isn't wasted, so much as they are thrown this way, that way and the other way from scene to scene by the unfocused tone of the screenplay.

This movie could have been so much better if they just canned a lot of the suggestive music, kept the emphasis on the psychological and the subtle (there ARE some subtly creepy moments that really work, at least in the first half), and canned the whole misguided "Raiders of the Lost Souls" crap at the end.

The best compliment I can give this film, is that I would have liked to see a weekly series with Dalton and Czerny as priests solving murder mysteries or something. They made a good team.

Great story here to be told, but so much of it was "off" that the entire film suffers tragically. I give it 5 of 10 stars because the shots, colors, and acting, at least from a few, were nice. This is supposedly a retelling of the actual events which inspired the classic Horror film The Exorcist starring Linda Blair. I also like how God is sincerely invoked for his authority over the situation, but I disagree with the priest saying that Jesus was sometimes afraid.

Yes, or course there are the usual amount of cliched semi-plots that add to the character development and have nothing to do with the story, but POSSESSED is quite good. Not really scary to me, but if you are a religious person, then it is quite possible that this movie will f*** you in the head! So be warned. Take the same warning for THE EXORCIST. Both of these films are similar (because one inspired the other) and they are both disturbing.

The ending of this film was not as good as I was hoping, but the rest of the film was pretty much everything I wanted. The acting is cheesy in some cases, but Timothy Dalton and Christopher Plummer both do good. I recommend all those other demon movies, like THE EXORCIST, END OF DAYS, LOST SOULS, BLESS THE CHILD, and STIGMATA.

POSSESSED: 4/5.