Director: David Jung
Studio: Gold Circle Films/Anchor Bay Entertainment
Michael King (Shane Johnson) is a documentary filmmaker, and after his wife dies after receiving poor advice from a psychic, leaving him to raise his daughter on his own, he soon decides to focus on the supernatural for his next film as a way to disprove the existence of God and the Devil. Michael makes himself the center of this experiment, placing cameras throughout all the rooms of his home to document any evidence that may be obtained during this search. Michael employs the aid of a cameraman at first, as he allows demonologists, necromancers, and various practitioners of the occult to try the deepest and darkest spells and rituals they can find on him - in the hopes that when they fail, he'll once and for all have proof that religion, spiritualism, and the paranormal are nothing more than myth. Following two rituals; a demon-summoning and a necromancy ritual, (both involving the use of hallucinogenic drugs) Michael's mind begins to deteriorate as something sinister begins to take hold of him. Michael's cameraman quickly resigns as he begins to witness Michael's descent into darkness, and Michael's sister (who lives with him and his daughter), begins to voice her concern about his increasingly disturbing behaviors. The voices in Michael's head begin to demand the death of his young daughter, and he battles them internally at first, though is quickly overcome physically (in some impressively disturbing scenes), and Michael soon realizes that the unseen supernatural forces that he once denounced the existence of are more real than he could have ever imagined.
Mike's Thoughts:
I began watching this film with trepidation. A lot of bad "possession" films have been produced since the epic: The Exorcist, and I have sat my way through a lot of them with the hopes that I would get more out of them besides some scenes of physics-defying body contortions, though had usually come up annoyingly grasping the short end of the stick wishing I could reobtain my wasted time. This film, however delivered MUCH more than expected. The video self-documentation of Michael's descent into supernatural madness gave this film a human quality that superceded the need for the tecnique of "scary face floods the screen from out of nowhere accompanied by a cacophonous sound" that so many of the films in this sub-genre employ. There are quite a bit of frightening scenes, don't get me wrong - but there is also a connection to the protagonist that keeps you rooting for him, but at the same time, wanting to see a demonic entity completely tear him to shreds. From start to end, this was a great addition to the possession film sub-genre, and I am happy to finally see one come through that lived up to the potential. Shane Johnson's performance as Michael was spectacular, the writing which was also done by the film's director David Jung was chilling, and I highly recommend seeing this film.
Look For:
Failed delivery to the ear canal, white specter floating down the hall.
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