Possession comes from Danish director Ole Bornedal. The producer was American horror luminary Sam Raimi, who, in addition to his ‘Spider-Man’ blockbusters, should be best known as the mastermind behind the ‘Evil Dead’ and ‘Dance of the Devil’ franchises.
SIXX will screen “Possession – The Dark Inside You” on May 22, 2023 at 10:40 PM. The channel broadcasts a repeat at 2:30 that same evening. If these dates are too late for you, online retailers like Amazon are offering the FSK 16 title as Blu-ray, DVD, or paid video-on-demand:
In addition to “The Walking Dead” star Jeffrey Dean Morgan, several other prominent actors stood in front of Bornedal’s camera. First and foremost is Kyra Sedgwick, the lead actress in the popular crime series The Closer. But also the faces of Grant Show (“Melrose Place”, “The Denver Clan”), Madison Davenport (“Sharp Objects”), Rob LaBelle (“First Wave”), Jay Brazeau (“Antlers”) and John Cassini (” Detective Knight 1+2″) will be familiar to many of you.
“Possession – The Darkness in You” on SIXX: That’s the story
Since her parents’ divorce, ten-year-old Emily “Em” Brenek (Natasha Calis) and her slightly older sister Hannah (Madison Davenport) have taken turns living with their father, Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and their mother, Stephanie. (Kyra Sedgwick). Clyde spoils his daughters and can hardly refuse a wish. That’s also the case when Em discovers an old wooden box during a neighborhood estate sale that she really wants.
What neither the girl nor her father suspects: the box hides a dark secret. Moments later, Clyde notices frightening changes in Em’s behavior. The child suddenly becomes violent and develops a real craving for raw meat. The concerned father seeks advice from the local rabbi (Matisyahu). He suspects that an ancient demon – called a dybbuk – was imprisoned in the coffin, which entered Em’s body to take possession of her innocent soul…
Greetings from “The Exorcist”.
In interviews surrounding the release of Possession in 2012, director Bornedal made it clear that The Exorcist was a huge source of inspiration for the work. Denying this would have served little purpose, though, as nearly every review of the tearjerker pointed to several obvious similarities – including our FILMSTARTS review.
Anyone who knows William Friedkin’s genre milestone should therefore hardly experience any real surprises in the course of the plot of “Possession – The Dark Inside You”. It didn’t help much to use a spirit of the dead borrowed from Jewish folk belief rather than a demon from Christian mythology. The mechanisms, which have become clichés over the decades as they are used over and over again in countless “The Exorcist” imitations, remain the same.
Nevertheless, “Possession” became a hit, reaching #1 on the US pop charts and grossing six times its budget of nearly $14 million on theatrical release alone, before gaining big again on Blu-ray and DVD.
The reasons for this, in addition to the appealing performances of the actors, are mainly the successful, scary atmosphere of the film and Bornedal’s cleverly applied staging tricks, including imaginative camera work by Dan Laustsen (“The Pact of the Wolves”). Those who don’t expect the subject to be reinvented can have a great time with “Possession – The Dark Inside You”.
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