The Possession Experiment

When "The Possession Experiment" opened i was greeted with a film which appeared to have some form of production value, this was a lie, as i think most of the budget must have been spent on that one scene, that single scene gave me hope, hope that was eventually possessed by the devil himself and subsequently destroyed, the actors were wooden and their characters were two dimensional, and i felt the "twist" was underwhelming, i also don't understand what happened with the editing and cinematography as at some points i was like "wow that was shot really well" then 80-90% was poorly edited and the lighting was just awful, i am now currently in mid seance as i type out this review, conducting an experiment to be possessed myself so i can forget about what i have just watched.

I watched this film because the plot sounded like a different twist on a worn-out sub-genre, and because it was made by a local production company (I even recognized some of the exterior shooting locations.) The concept was OK, most of the special FX were decent and the editing of the horrific visions was done well, albeit much like a music video, which is what I believe the production company is known for. However, the movie turned out to be yet another mediocre indie disappointment due to poor directing, a bad script and, as pretty much every other reviewer has mentioned, absolutely abysmal acting. I think if they'd taken their time to produce a solid short film based on the concept they would have been better off. Feature films are not their strong point.

The title has caught my interest but as soon as the movie started rolling I immediately regretted my decision. Granted, the first scene (the possession scene) was actually quite good but everything that follows is just the exact opposite. The acting in particular can only be described as otherworldly (and not in the positive way). The scene where the protagonist has a "serious conversation" with his mother is one of those scenes that were so bad that I literally cringed. It definitely reminded me of the acting in the movie "The Room".

Other than that the movie definitely had its scary moments. But sadly they were overshadowed by the bad acting performances, I'm afraid.

It appears to me, that at this moment in time, writers and directors are struggling to portray a decent horror story. This is another of those films that should have been much better. Once again it's a nice idea - A theology student decides to do his thesis on Exorcism, though while investigating he has the idea of getting an entity to possess him and then carry out an exorcism online. You know things are going to go wrong, though the main thing that went wrong with this movie was the acting and the directing.

Though, for the opening sequence, which is a flashback with Bill Moseley as Father Mark Campbell trying to exorcise a demon from the body of a woman, it pretty good. I even settled down to enjoy the movie. Not long into the second scene where we're introduced to Brandon Jensen, it becomes evident that the atmosphere previously built up has disappeared. Worst still, it never comes back. It's as if there are two directors working on this film instead of just Scott B Hansen. All the flashback sequences are the best if they'd kept the same grimy dark atmosphere this would have been a better film.

Bill Moseley is, by far, the best thing about this film (shame he's not in it too long), and he outshines all of the other actors. The actors struggle to make their characters believable, even likable, most of the time the come across as flat and uninteresting.

The direction suffers from the hit-and-miss with creating and holding tension as well as managing action scenes credibly. Though I know Hansen can do it, as the flashbacks are evidence to. Not sure why the other sections of the film fail.

Not worth watching unless you're into exorcism and there's nothing on telly.

Theology student Brandon Jensen (Chris Minor) is doing his class assignment on exorcism. He and his class partner Clay Harper (Jake Brinn) do some research. They sell passes to their possession attempt to generate internet funding. They recruit medical student Leda Morgan (Nicky Jasper) and hire a cultist to raise a demonic spirit.

This small budget indie may have an interesting idea, but this movie cannot escape its poor execution. First, the work group should be bigger than two people from the start. There is no reason to not have the girl right away. I like the crowd funding idea. They could make a bigger meal out of hiring a wacky dark magic witch. The reconnection with the father is a little abrupt. I like the idea, but the execution is wanting. A lot of this movie is flawed in that way.