Possessed

Amazing! Whoever would have expected to see James Bond matching it with Regan's distant young cousin!

Based for the most part on Thomas Allen's book of supposedly the only bona-fide recorded exorcism ever conducted in the US, Dalton is just out of his tree as Father William Bowden, the priest who actually performed the exorcism on the young Mannheim boy.

Given a more direct and less Hollywoodesque approach, the circumstances of the boy's "affliction" (and many, having watched this will have their doubts) are presented as totally realistic. The exorcism itself is deftly handled and Dalton gives a power-house performance as the priest being torn apart by forces he can barely comprehend. He gets finally to show his considerable acting skills, uncluttered by his usual veneer of a one-dimensional and synthetic personality. (He was starting to get there in HAWKS!)

This telemovie comes highly recommended for both believers and non-believers. Both sides will get something out of this!

This movie is compelling viewing. There's not many people who haven't seen the Exorcist, which now looks rather jaded after almost 30 years. This movie does not glamourise evil in fact it shows the human weaknesses of the priest who is played by former 007 Timothy Dalton. A very compelling movie

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

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.

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.