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.

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.

The opening sequence was actually surprisingly well done. You go in knowing this will be low budget. And after reading the ACTUAL budget they accomplished a lot with what they had. After the first scene the rest looks like it was shot on a cell phone and I couldn't tell if the voices were out of sync on purpose or just my TV. It was slow to the horror after the first scene but the few deaths towards the end were really good. A few things I am very confused/concerned about though: 1) he and his roommate have bunk beds? And his roommate has sex with a drunk girl on his bed? 2) he basically raped the med student but we never see that have repercussions. 3) Why was the house completely empty except the occult stuff and a piano? (Budget cuts I assume). I probably wouldn't RECOMMEND this movie to anyone but it wasn't a heap of trash.

My quick rating - 4,5/10. The movie begins with a strong opening scene of an exorcism. I really thought I was in luck in finding a decent unknown possession flick. The premise of a student doing a school project and attempting to possess himself was interesting enough to me. Sounds like the dumb stuff I would've tried in school (anyone who knows me is most likely agreeing) but then comes the downfall. The trio of our star, Brandon (Chris Minor) and two bit players go to the sign of an exorcism in hopes to conjure up the spirit and welcome it into himself. Thankfully Hasbro has created the key to the gates of hell and in comes the method, a Ouija board. The movie instantly lost all merit it had right there. Not only is this cliché getting so ridiculous, the movie then turns so stupid. Days pass and Brandon seems fine until his mother commits suicide (by ripping her own jaw off) and Brandons demon lies dormant no more. So far aside from the kids toy, it hasn't been too bad. In comes the shlock as Brandon puts on blades (Freddy Krueger style) and begins killing people on campus. And yes, throws in a couple one liners to complete the pointless rip off. I don't know if the makers were attempting to pay tribute to Wes Cravens classic (which they didn't) or just had no ideas. Sprinkle in the painfully obvious coincidence which leads to the far more obvious ending (no spoilers) and you are left with a solid 5 minute opening, and 80 minutes of horrible acting and pointless flashbacks/dreamscenes. Just another in the line of OK to watch but there are so many better out there I don't see why you would.

Yet another film that wastes a creepy looking cover and quite intriguing concept. It is also another film that started promisingly but very, very quickly went downhill and never recovered, instead it progressively grew worse. This is coming from somebody who saw it in my "more like this" section when watching some other low-budget films, decided to ignore the rating and only skim through a few of the reviews, having been known to go against the grain.

Even when taking all of this into account, without any prejudice and giving it a proper chance, 'The Possession Experiment' was just very weakly done on most levels and on the most part it does not deliver. Am definitely going to have to agree with the low rating, don't always do with film and television having more than once in the past found ratings here too low, and the mediocre at best reviews (having read them properly just now) that sum up what's wrong with the film very well.

As said above, 'The Possession Experiment' did start off very well and the main reason for not scoring it lower as tempted to. It had genuine tension and creepiness and actually looked pretty good (the only scene really to be so).

The setting has moments of eeriness and the titles sequence was quite creatively done.

Can't say anything else good. The production values rapidly got worse in a jarring shift, with the lighting being far too dim and the photography being wildly disorganised in a particularly under-funded found footage sort of way, some erotic films actually look better. The editing is far too jumpy too with the constant setting shifts being choppy and sometimes confusing. The sound is too obvious and intrusive too often, pet hates of mine when it comes to audio, and the direction also shows signs of disorganisation and not thinking things through.

It doesn't feel like much of a script was written, as it constantly sounds awkward in flow and is woefully under (or should that be un)-rehearsed. The tension and horror is far too fleeting, with hardly anything scary after the opening, and when there is any signs of a story (barely there and it feels padded) it becomes more tedious, more predictable and sillier with each minute, with the sudden and choppy shifts making it harder to follow as well. Didn't find any of the characters interesting or appealing and the acting is horrendous enough to single-handedly wreck the film. The only halfway okay actor is Bill Moseley and he is wasted.

On the whole, good start but everything else is almost beyond redemption weak. 3/10