The Possession of David O'Reilly

Just after midnight, a young London couple receive a visit from their friend David who appears distraught, telling them that his girlfriend has been unfaithful and needs a place to stay for the night. Sometime after three in the morning, David is left downstairs whilst the others depart. It's only whilst looking in a mirror that David sees something out of the corner of his eye and, as he investigates, he comes face to face with something utterly nightmarish. But this isn't his first encounter with the horrors that lurk in the dark. He's met them before... and now he's brought them with him to his friends' apartment.

This low budget British movie from Andrew Cull and Steve Isles has drawn a lot of comparisons to "Paranormal Activity" which is unfair. Whilst there are certain similarities (characters stalked within a building by an unknown horror over a series of nights and the use of POV shots), those similarities are quite superficial. "The Possession Of David O'Reilly" was conceived and shot before "Paranormal Activity", and seems to draw more influence from the works of Clive Barker and George Romero than Oren Peli's 2007 horror movie. This is a movie steeped in a foreboding atmosphere with long silent scenes taking place in virtual darkness, events illuminated only by a single light source – such as a cell phone or the moon through curtains.

That's not to say that the movie doesn't have some significant problems. Despite not using the 'lost footage' style of "Paranormal Activity", the directors frequently film scenes from the point of view of one of the three characters. Whilst this does add tension in certain places, it's ultimately overused diluting the intended effect as the movie continues. As with most horror movies, the main characters are also prone to making bad decisions which make their situation worse and this only serves to undermine the story in places. In addition, we are given very little back story about any of the characters and there are some definite pacing issues.

What's most frustrating about "The Possession Of David O'Reilly" is that it has the potential to be a lot better than the end product suggests. The make-up effects for the horrific creatures are generally pretty good, and often accompanied with terrific eerie sound effects that heighten the scares. In the main role, Giles Alderson is fantastic; perfectly demonstrating his character's loosening grasp on reality as events unfold. Finally, the story itself succeeds as many times as it fails, and some scenes will definitely make you jump if you're watching the movie in a dark room with no distractions.

However, I was left feeling largely ambivalent at the conclusion of "The Possession Of David O'Reilly". Whilst there were glimpses of a great horror movie at times, the absence of information regarding several key story points, and paper-thin characterisation ultimately makes it difficult to recommend. Fans of small, independent horror productions such as "The Blair Witch Project", "Bug" and (in my opinion) the inferior "Paranormal Activity" will most likely enjoy this movie, despite its flaws, and owe it to themselves to take a look in order to make up their own minds. All others should probably tread carefully here, as the decidedly average script and the previously mentioned pacing issues may not compensate for the occasional jump scare in a darkened room when something with half a face appears in a sliver of light.

I have seen this movie twice now just to make sure I had a decent understanding of it. It starts out interesting but very soon takes a weird and dark turn. This movie kind of reminds me of certain Spanish movies where the outcome is just all kinds of bad. Lots of anxiety, creepy lighting, and sadness, and no glimpse of hope. Depression and a quite precarious sense of being accompanies this film, and the lighting and setting doesn't help. Creepy glass and dim lamps pair with the sad and oppressive theme. To its credit, certain scenes are for sure creepy and "jumpy" like the ones with the "demons" appearing outside, but for me anyway, the jumpiness of the lead character and his manic crap made me nervous and just took away the fun of an otherwise good horror flick.

I was so frustrated whilst watching this. The potential for a fantastic film was all there but it was all let down by the lack of info and the obscure plot.

At first I was lead to believe that this was going to be a new improved British version of Paranormal Activity... I was wrong.

I was dieing for this film to break forward and become its own film. But instead I was just left wondering WHY!? Why? Why did this happen? Why does that happen? At one point I though a few questions were going to be answered as to why this demon is doing this haunting and this was hinted at but still not made clear. With abstract shots of small dark rooms we're led on a cryptic path where nothing is really explained as to why or how it's happening.

Having read the reviews I settled down for a little spooky affair, already familiar with these sort of films and being of a sensitive nature I was expecting a bit of a thrill.

Whilst I enjoyed the storyline and, by the way nice flat!, as the action heated up and the first demon appeared I started to be a bit dubious that this may be a decent ride. The plot for me was interesting enough - the frantic locking of the doors, power cut, knocks and bangs - all the usual tricks, did add to the atmosphere but the girlfriend's constant question 'What's going on?' reminded me a bit of Eastenders.. 'Oi Ricky, what's going on?!' Even the boyfriend started asking his made David 'David, what's going on?'. I actually laughed on a couple of occasions.

As we start to see more of the demons appearing from the shadows they reminded me of discarded Dr Who monsters - to be honest, we don't need to see them, there's more fear of what we don't see than what we do.

Towards then end it was pretty obvious what was going to happen because we always have to have someone being killed no matter who does the killing.

Was David insane.. probably, or.. maybe not. The ending doesn't need an explanation - it is what it is.

If you like gore then you will be disappointed, if,like me, you 'appreciate' truly supernatural spooky films, again you will be disappointed. It's neither. But, it's not a bad film to while away some time.

The first Paranormal Activity had me sleeping badly for months after - that's what I call a good horror film!

This movie had the potential to be something better, but I found it painfully boring to try to sit through. It starts slow, the plot is weak and as others have said, there are gaps of needed information left empty. If you want a good supernatural thriller or psychological mind screw, this ain't it. The characters are weak and plastic, the cinematography has a few quality moments but these could be condensed into a 30 second clip. The storyline seems put together loosely and leaves one wondering if the screenplay never left the rough draft stage of its production. Save yourself your money and use the hour and a half you could spend watching this and do something else. To call this movie B grade is an insult to B grade movies.