The Possessed

While most might think exclusively of "Wolf Creek" when they think of Australian horror films, Chris Sun has done a great job of ramping up his efforts within the genre. His latest, "The Possessed", is clearly the next chapter in that evolution.

Starring "Wolf Creek"'s John Jarratt and Lincoln Lewis, the movie follows accidental exorcist Jacob as he rids Australia of some pretty nasty demonic possessions. After going through a few harrowing "clearings", the film has its climax in a spooky house where the previous owners may have performed some rituals to summon a very powerful demon. I won't spoil the ending but it's quite a surprising take indeed.

Jarratt and Lewis carry the film pretty well. I found Jarratt's affectations a bit odd at first, but when you see the person this story is based on (Mark Gardener; they show clips of his real life clearings during credits) it's pretty spot on. Lewis plays the straight man roped into this strange work by his uncle, and while he doesn't have a LOT of room to spread his wings, his performance is even and gives Jarratt a good foil to work from. The other actors were strong as well, though the character of Orion (Jade Kevin Foster), who serves as very capable comedic relief, did feel overused in the climax, drawing away from what would have otherwise been a terrifying sequence.

A lot of the film's strength comes from the demons and their design. They are differing, terrifying, and grotesque in equal parts. While they are largely glimpsed or shown in shadow, their appearances are startling and stomach churning. On top of that, the FX makeup for those suffering possession is very well done too.

All of that would be for not if the film wasn't shot as well as it was. Andrew Conders work is excellent. The framing and exposition, especially during the possession sequences, enhanced the moments. It felt clean, colourful and easy on the eyes, despite the content.

For a modestly budgeted horror flick, this one is pretty fun to watch and, while not perfection, has a lot going for it.

+ It's like an australian Buffy the Vampire slayer + decent practical FX /makeup + they probably could have made a decent TV series out of this, but not shoot it as a movie seeing how they become a ghostbusting demon-slaying team at the end.

This is indeed belongs to the comedy-horror genre, but the practical effects are absolutely stunning here! Overal it would be great as a miniseries, because each part could be a skit of its own if given time and background to develop itself and the acting would be okay for a TV-like short series where the audience and the actors are both in-on-it and don't take it all too seriously.

Jacob Chandler became an exorcist after a tragedy in 2001. He has exorcised many possessed by demons in what he calls clearing. His nephew Liam, Liam's girlfriend Atalie Carlisle who has the curse of seeing the demons, and their group of young friends join him in a difficult clearing.

This is a different exorcist. It's still an exorcist and it has many of the same ideas. Supposedly, it's a real guy from the opening text and closing credits although I can't take him that seriously. First, there's the shaky hand which looks like a gimmick. Second, the Australian accent doesn't fit my mind's image of an exorcist. Finally, there is the Hawaiian shirt. I can almost hear him sing Kokomo. It's a funny visual. At least, he does change into a black T-shirt which is a minor improvement. The best option is to play into the silly image like a Crocodile Dundee. It may turn it into a farce, but it would be interesting. While I'm uncertain about the guy, I do like the demon designs. This is a smaller indie horror with all the standard horror tropes. The story is very simplistic and straight-forward. This very much depends on how one sees Jacob.

The writing and acting are pretty bad in this film. The main character overacts constantly, and the poor acts must have a broken wrist from all the silly hand waving he had to do. The story does not have a real arc, but is jut a series of events with no clear silver thread through them all. The characters do not really develop at all, and the settings are boring.

All that being said, the effects are really good, like, almost Holly-wood quality good! The demons look fantastic and truly frightening. The possession effects, including sound, are great, too.

That's why I call this movie weird and contradictory: terrible acting and writing, but great effects. Weird.

As I sat down here late in 2022 to watch the 2021 horror movie "The Possessed", I did so without ever having heard about this movie from director Chris Sun. I will say that the movie's synopsis sounded interesting enough, and a horror movie with possessions that I hadn't already seen was sufficient to make me want to sit down and watch it.

Writers Kirsty Dallas, Mark Gardener, John Kendrick and Chris Sun put together an entertaining enough script and plot for the movie. Sure, it was somewhat generic and predictable, but it made for an adequate enough horror movie. "The Possessed" is not going to become a classic within this particular subgenre of horror movies, but it made for an okay enough viewing experience, though I doubt I will ever return to watch it a second time.

The acting performances in "The Possessed" were fair enough. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble, but the actors and actresses put on fair enough performances to carry the movie.

Something that did impress me in "The Possessed" was the special effects. I liked the CGI effects and the designs of the various demonic entities was quite impressive. I was actually really surprised with the level of quality here in the CGI and special effects department for a movie such as this. And it definitely helped to lift up the movie quite a notch.

I am rating "The Possessed" a five out of ten stars.