Exorcismus: A Possessão

Emma is a home-schooled teen who one day cuts herself. It's thought that it's because she wants to be in school with her friends. One day she has a seizure and foams out of her mouth. Doctors don't find anything wrong with her. Her secular and modern parents send her to a psychologist who ends up dead. Emma knows that something is wrong with her and visits her uncle who is a priest. He recognizes that she's possessed. Emma is willing to undergo an exorcism. Her parents don't agree until she has another seizure and levitates.

The exorcism will take several session to be performed by the uncle who has been actually kicked out of the church for the death of his previous exorcism patient. Meanwhile, whenever the devil takes over and Emma is with someone else, that other person doesn't end up well. The priest recognizes the he alone won't be able to cast out the devil. He also films the sessions. The parents are still in disbelief until one day the father interrupts a session only to actually see for himself how possessed she is. Things get deadlier for the family and we learn some darker secrets about the priest and Emma.

Exorcismus was produced by Spanish production company Filmax which specializes in high quality, lower budget, good-natured, PG-13 horror movies, where the behavior of the characters is far less believable than the horror. This is their take on the exorcism genre, although the exorcisms aren't all that much at the center of the movie, "Possession" would be a more apt title. It follows the Filmax recipe, it won't offend anyone's sensibilities, is well directed, and has a European/Spanish feel to it.

The first third of the movie is very strong. It has its creepy moments, the hand-held camera-work is great and so is the digital sound. The heavily discolored look of the movie, however, is annoying. It doesn't manage to keep the interest or pace as things become less interesting during the second third for some reason, even though that's when stuff starts happening. The last third improves a bit as we learn why the girl really cut herself at the beginning of the movie. And we learn why the priest is so highly motivated to act. What I liked about it was that everything takes place during the day, even outdoors. This devil isn't scared of the sun or of public places. No lame night scenes, rain, thunder, lights going out and all the clichés that plague every single American horror movie. Exorcismus is enjoyable but it doesn't break any new ground, which is something that this type of movie needs at this point, although Sophie Vavasseur's understated performance is excellent.

Well what can I say. I bought it on a whim after seeing it was linked with REC which is a great film. I wasn't expecting much as it was fairly cheap for a newish release. What I got when I watched it however was a really unexpected surprise.

This film is good. The acting is very believable. The story has been around a while with some notable exceptions and the ending is a lot better than most I have seen in the last 10 years.

This film will be compared to The Exorcist (which I find overrated) but that is par for the course as they are both films about young girls being possessed by the Devil.

On the whole this film is an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.

This movie is nothing new to anyone who has ever watched a film about exorcism(s). Throughout the movie we encounter the standard possession scenes. a demon (or spiritual entity) taking complete control of a person's body for any length of time, remaining dormant at other times. The movie follows your run-of-the-mill exorcism-movie progression… the demon at first seems to only manifest timidly, with more boldness as the film progresses, and finally stops bothering to hide itself altogether, along with a spiritual adviser to try and excise the demon.

There are a couple of things that set this movie apart from the others, though, and that was quite pleasing.

The first is the complete lack of "jump" scenes, at least from my perspective. There might be a few scenes where viewers are scared or grossed out, but not nearly to the standard found in most movies in the exorcism sub-genre. For me, I found it a bit disappointing… I honestly love shock scenes, and this movie needed a bit more excitement. It would be a good movie for those who are easily scared or unfamiliar with the concepts of possession, but has little else to offer as far as suspense. I might be able to watch this movie with my friends who are not horror or suspense fans, as it holds little of either.

Another element that is a bit different in this movie is the exorcist himself. We know little enough about him at the beginning of the movie, but as the movie progresses his character deepens towards the climatic twist; and the foreshadowing is there for those who watch closely. The reasons for events in and around the possession and exorcism are fairly unique; my kudos to the writer for (as far as I know) introducing something a little bit new into the genre, instead of completely recycling The Exorcist.

I didn't notice that the acting was bad; it really wasn't. The female lead Sophie Vavasseur did quite a good job in her role, especially in the demanding scenes where she must switch personalities between the teen Emma and the possessing spirit; both in attitude, body and facial expression.

Overall, I can't really recommend this movie to any horror/suspense fan unless they are looking for another cookie-cutter supernatural film to whittle away the time.

I am giving this film 10/10 because I was highly entertained. The background music score is OUTSTANDING! The acting, cinematography, SFX are professionally done.

The plot of the film is based on demonic possession. However this film differs from most exorcism films in the fact that in this film, the person himself performs a satanic rite that allows her body to be possessed.

Plot: Emma Hawkins finds herself doing uncontrollable acts. She often faints and goes into seizures. Her parents are concerned and she is taken to see some specialists. However they find nothing wrong with her.

Later on she has a seizure in front of her family in which she levitates.So Emma calls in the help of her uncle who is a priest to drive out the evil spirits.

Watch this film to see what happens next!

Verdict: this film is in a class of its own. If you enjoyed the Exorcist series of films, than this one is for you. If you decide to buy it, it will make a worthy addition to your DVD collection.

P.S. Doug Bradley(role of Pinhead in Hellraiser series of horror films) makes a cameo at the end of the film!

Exorcismus, not surprisingly, starts off fairly predictable, following in the footsteps of pretty much every other possession film out there, but toward about the midway point things suddenly change course, leading you in an original and disturbing direction. While most films seem only interested in patterning themselves on Friedkin's The Exorcist, Carballo introduces us to a "not-so-innocent" young girl with dark secrets, constantly locking horns with her progressive parents. Instead of jumping right into the possession, the director leads us to wonder whether Emma's malady is nothing more than the calculated tantrum tactics of a conniving teenager. This, of course, keeps us guessing while tension slowly builds and the signs of possession become evident.

The film occasionally has a documentary feel, thanks to the cinematography of Javier (Romasanta) Salmones, successfully bringing you closer to the characters without forcing you to participate, like The Possession of David O'Reilly. Naturally that only works when you're given genuine characters to connect with and in my opinion the actors all did a wonderful job, with 19-year-old Sophie (Resident Evil: Apocalypse) Vavasseur turning in the most impressive, and probably physically exhausting, performance as Emma.

Bottom line, when you watch a possession film you want to see some actual demonic possession, whether that's bending backwards, walking on walls, vomiting pea soup or using foul language. In the case of this film, the director could have kept things ambiguous without ever showing us anything supernatural but, thankfully, he didn't go that route. Exorcismus doesn't depend on wild CGI possession gags but they are used and when they are its to great effect as they're never over-the-top.

Written by David (The Devil's Backbone) Muñoz, Exorcismus features capable actors, solid CGI and some thrilling sequences that ooze tension and terror. This film is definitely worth checking out but be sure to rent first.