Movie Review - The Possession Of Michael King

The Possession Of Michael King

2014

Production Companies:  Gold Circle Films & Quickfire Films.

This film surprised me... and in a good way...  I liked it!

I was interested in the concept of the story and this brought me to view the film.  A family man loses his wife and is understandably absorbed by the deep loss he feels.  He believes that her death could have been negated:  They had previously been to a fortune teller-come-medium who had informed them to stay at home when they should have been on vacation.  Had they ignored her advice his wife would still be alive.  This sets off a train of thought in his brain and he decides to prove that the occult and paranormal are not real.  Being a documentary film maker he resolves to get the evidence on film.

You know that he's going to be proved wrong and in a very dark and nasty way.  Though, this is the case you don't know exactly what is coming.  King then heads off to different people and groups who purport to be able to conjure dark entities and demons.

What I liked most about this film was the standard of acting which is of a high standard.  Shane Johnson does well to hold the story and the film together as the lead.  His portrayal of King and the many emotions he goes through is believable.  There are also a couple of actors you may have seen before - Dale Dickey who plays the Fortune Teller and Cullen Douglas who is the mortician, he gives the character a suitably creepy feel.

I also loved the fact that on his visit to the Satanists they tell him what to expect from the demon he has chosen through psychography... and then we see this manifestation appear and grow slowly... then when they are later confronted we learn they never believed in it, it was just a way to get laid - a bit of kinkiness.  This was just a little thing but it added a depth and a moral.

The drawback is that the film is done similar to found footage films so there is a lot of shaky camera work.  Though there are some nice camera angles which add to the atmosphere of the film.  There's also an overuse of grey filters.  I know this is to create a bleak atmosphere but it would have been nice if this could have been done differently.  Coloured filters are tired and old - they need to be retired or at least take a rest.  God gave you an imagination and artistic licence, come on and use it.

There are some scenes that run on too long when the action should be starting to pick up and a couple which appear superfluous to the film.  These just niggled me as they felt like time fillers - we could have had character and story development instead.

The special effects are superb and the pentagram carving is disturbing.  I don't squirm much - I would have normally said, at all - but this had me agonizing with him; so a big thumbs up for that.

This isn't the best possession film out there but it is worth a viewing and I would recommend all fans of horror and possession flicks to give it a watch.  I may even give this another viewing sometime.

Movie Review - Baskin

Baskin

(2015)

Film Colony / Mo Film / XYZ Films : IFC Midnight / Vertigo Films / Scream Factory

3.75 / 10

This is yet another of those films where the premise is solid, though, in reality, the movie turns out to be a letdown.  A group of policemen are called out to help with a unit at an old abandoned building.  Once they get there, they find the two policemen dead.  As they search through the hallways and floor of the building they come across a staircase that leads downwards.  It goes a lot further than just to a basement... it leads into the bowels of the earth.  Here they find a group of Satanists performing a Black Mass.

This could have been a great film... should have been...  The Director and one of the writers, Can Evrenol gives the audience some beautiful camera shots and builds an eerie atmosphere which is almost palpable.  He also gives them some really nasty and disturbing imagery, which should stay with them for quite some time.

Though this isn't enough to keep the film strong... and neither is the exemplary acting.

The fault with the film is the characters and the story.  The main characters are bullish and unlikable.  They take pleasure in torturing and degrading the people around them.  They think of themselves as great and untouchable.  Because I couldn't relate to any of the characters it made the film slow and boring.

There is a pomposity to the story which grated on my nerves.  When it got towards the climax and the philosophical issues started to come through they felt forced, half-formed and unconvincing.  These should have been woven throughout the story.  They may even have made me care about the characters and what happens to them.

However, when the film ended I was left cold, bored and wondering what the point of the film actually was.

Not a film I would recommend to anyone.