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Sarah Michelle Gellar in Possession (2009)

User reviews

Possession

36 reviews
5/10

Okay as a drama but a disappointing drama thriller

I may review this report after watching the film a second time. this time around, I was most disappointed, expecting from the DVD sleeve promotion and the very title of the film, a demonic horror thriller. No such thing.

Another love triangle involving a young woman and two brothers, this is a soppy sentimental love story but I can see where people are coming from in thinking the husband Ryan has possessed the soul of his brother as a result of the accident. they could have fed off the recent film 'Brothers' which had a war topic to the story and although not great, delivered the goods. this film doesn't.

There is no real drama or horror in this movie and the ending is macabre to say the least. The acting is below standard even from the leading lady and the script is poor, the story told with so slow a pace it was excruciating.

Checking IMDb, there are quite a few films by the same title and it was difficult at first to identify the correct film on which to post the review.

There have been some very sensible and to the point comments by previous commentators about this movie. it remains to be seen whether I revise this review after a second viewing.
  • mrcibubur
  • Apr 13, 2010
  • Permalink
5/10

Romance Novel dressed as a Thriller/Supernatural flick

  • jonathanruano
  • Aug 25, 2014
  • Permalink
4/10

Far-fetched and feeble.

  • BA_Harrison
  • May 13, 2012
  • Permalink
3/10

I didn't like it, too unrealistic

  • neilstephens403
  • Aug 29, 2012
  • Permalink
6/10

Tragedy and Manipulation

  • claudio_carvalho
  • May 14, 2010
  • Permalink
5/10

A Conflicted and Twisted Love Story

  • 3xHCCH
  • Apr 11, 2010
  • Permalink

Interesting and engaging

This film is about a woman whose husband and her brother in law were injured in a serious car crash. After her brother in law regains consciousness, he believes that he is his brother.

"Possession" has an interesting plot which keeps you interested and guessing throughout. The mystery is preserved to the very end. Though the acting is not outstanding, the plot makes up for it. The ending is a little weird, as there are scenes which seems to contradict the ending that is suggested.

If the ending is clearer and more focused, then "Possession" would have been even better.
  • Gordon-11
  • Mar 25, 2011
  • Permalink
6/10

Dissatisfying film, better alternate ending...

  • golightly24
  • Aug 17, 2011
  • Permalink
5/10

OK thriller, nothing more

  • ctomvelu1
  • Nov 16, 2012
  • Permalink
6/10

Possession

  • Scarecrow-88
  • Mar 23, 2010
  • Permalink
4/10

Move along - nothing to see here

Sorry, Sarah, but, since your 'Buffy days,' your film career has hardly been glittering. What we have here is a short - and pretty empty - horror/thriller. If you believe the marketing on the poster, the people who made it have something to do with both The Grudge and The Ring. I can assure you... it's not even nearly as good as either of them.

In my opinion, it has two major problems: the first is that it's rushed. It's only eighty minutes long and everything has to happen really quickly to fit it all in. Buffy is now married to 'nice brother,' but 'nasty brother' is generally hanging around with them. Then, one fateful day, nice brother and nasty brother accidentally crash their cars into each other (yeah, seriously), leaving them both fighting for life side by side in their hospital beds.

Then, nasty brother wakes up, only he claims to be nice brother. And now we have our film. Only we don't. Seeing as it's nice brother in nasty brother, he behaves very well and doesn't do anything nasty. So... who's really in there? Nice brother, or nasty brother? Um, do we care? He's nice, so there's absolutely no real sense of danger or dramatic tension (my second fault with the film).

If you're a Buffy/Sarah fan like me, you'll probably agree that she's the best bit. She does her best, but the script is lame and she could do with either having to fight someone, or be chased by something (ala The Grudge).

Sadly, Possession offers nothing you haven't seen before, only better. Stick to the Grudge or the Ring. Like I say... sorry, Sarah.

http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/
  • bowmanblue
  • Jul 29, 2014
  • Permalink
8/10

Alternate Version Is Better

I have watched both versions of the film, and after eagerly anticipating it for more than a year, I can say that the alternate version is what I had expected/hoped for and completely changes the entire film. This film is by no means perfect, and certainly isn't the best written piece of cinema out there, but the story had me wrapped up and interested. The alternate ending made me love it.

If you go into this film under the misapprehension of the marketing - which is, that this film is another "Grudge" or whatever the company tried to push - then you may be disappointed; it is less supernatural and altogether more human.
  • lnfrosch
  • Apr 11, 2010
  • Permalink
6/10

Good movie... Poor ending... misnamed title

  • midge56
  • Apr 7, 2010
  • Permalink
5/10

Adequate, but not what I expected...

Based on the trailer and the tags for the movie I expected a little bit of a horror/thriller from the movie, instead I got a slow moving tense love story. The movie lacked a wow factor, while being watchable and being a remake I would have wanted more out of the second release. Acting in it was good, nothing outstanding as it only was composed of three actors for the majority and of those two that showed any depth.Regardless of what I expected though, the movie was very slow in a lot of areas and then the theatrical version (and from what I read the alternate version is much better) provides an ending that was jumbled and developed poorly for the viewer. They seemed to just toss out this ending without thought to turn it into a somewhat creepy idea of "possession" that I found to be quite bland.

Overall if you watch a lot of movies and need something to watch, check it out, its not horrendous. Otherwise, there are plenty of other flicks worth pouring an hour half into.
  • I-Watch-Movies
  • Mar 10, 2010
  • Permalink

Sarah Michelle Gellar Rises Above a Poor Script

American remakes of South Asian films have often produced disastrous results. 'Possession' faces a similar fate. It's not as bad as most remakes of South Asian movies but as a stand alone it's not very good either. The execution is passable. There are some eye-candy photographic visuals but the background score is annoying. The forced 'jump' moments are unnecessary and out of place.

The movie hardly works as a thriller but to an extent it does work as a human drama. Jess's hope of her husband's recovery conflicted with her confusion in seeing her brother-in-law act familiar is well displayed. Sarah Michelle Gellar is brilliantly restrained. How I hope she would move out of the horror thriller genre and attempt different kinds of roles. Lee Pace's performance suffers due to poor characterization.

'Possession' is easily forgettable. Other than Michelle Gellar's performance, there isn't much to look forward to.
  • Chrysanthepop
  • May 29, 2010
  • Permalink
5/10

I'm gonna rent the Japanese version...

This movie was very uneven I think I would have to see the Japanese version or read the book in order to appreciate it better or at least understand what happened at the end of it. Too much of vital details was left on the cutting room floor apparently or maybe the director expects too much of his audience. Wanting an intelligent audience is one thing but leaving so much details out to the point whereby the audience is practically left to make up their own movie is just ridiculous. It has shades of Bollywood's 'Anamika' in it. The idea behind the film was brilliant but it was executed poorly. I like Sarah Michelle Gellar but this was not one of her best work.
  • Sherazade
  • Mar 9, 2010
  • Permalink
7/10

Keeps you on edge of seat

Good drama movie, interesting twist. I would recommend if you like drama movies.
  • cristin-moore27
  • Sep 20, 2020
  • Permalink
4/10

Difference

I haven't seen the Original Asian movie this is based on, but I am pretty sure, that I would like that more than the Remake I have seen. I'm pretty sure it is more subtle and has better character arcs. Not that the actors are bad in this, but as someone else wrote in a magazine: Seems like Sarah M. Gellars career has gone AWOL, since Buffy ended. And this movie won't bring her career back.

It's a nice little psycho thriller, that tries to stay ambiguous, but you might know where this is going, without me or anyone else telling you about it. There's still a chance you might like it more than some other people, but also a very good chance you might not like it at all. There's better thrillers out there, but you could pick a worse movie. If you are a fan of Sarah M. Gellar, you might wanna give it a try ... also if you like thriller movies in general (with a touch of supernatural thrown in for good measure). Everyone else should stay clear of this
  • kosmasp
  • Jun 15, 2010
  • Permalink
6/10

Hmmm...

It is OK movie. Nothing special, viewing it as a whole, but it does grab your attention most of the time. The title of the movie may give you the impression that it is a horror movie, but it is a drama with elements of thriller. Sarah was very good in the movie. I don't know the names of the 'brothers' but for what they acted, it was good. The twist or the changing of the roles is clever, but then the blood connection makes no sense to me - that is, if the other brother consciously decided to switch the roles. I did not like the very ending with the hands of the 'spirit' helping her tie the chain... All in all, six from me.
  • fil-nik09
  • Jun 12, 2015
  • Permalink
4/10

4/10

Jess (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Ryan (Michael Landes) seem to have a perfect life, marred only by the presence of Ryan's thuggish brother, Roman (Lee Pace). After the two brothers are involved in a terrible car crash, Roman awakes from his coma first and claims to be Ryan. Though she is sceptical at first, Jess begins to believe that her husband is trapped in his brother's body.

I didn't expect a great deal when I decided to watch this movie, the only thing that interested me in it was Sarah Michelle Gellar, taking on a different role to her usual. The film itself, however, is predictably dull, the interesting premise is squandered on lame genre clichés and pitfalls, leaving a bland and uninteresting movie. Nothing ever seems to stands out as the plot and characters are under-developed and generic. I learned practically nothing about the character of Jess other than the fact she was engaged and worked an office job - meaning when the second act begins I couldn't feel for her character whatsoever. The film is never aggressively bad, it just is not worth the time.

The film's attempt at being a thriller come across awfully silly and the dramatic aspects bog the runtime down. Sadly, even Sarah's performance isn't noteworthy either, giving her nothing of substance to work with. The direction seems to spend more time seeking out the perfect camera angle and using an unnecessary amount of CGI than tightening the story, characters and dialogue to appropriate levels of suspense. Not a film I would recommend.
  • SamJamie
  • Dec 7, 2020
  • Permalink
6/10

WHAT'S WRONG DADDY?

  • nogodnomasters
  • Dec 2, 2018
  • Permalink
8/10

Amazing Musical Scores

I expected another boring Sarah Michelle Gellar flop, but this was actually gripping and interesting! Judging by other comments, I may be one of the few who loved this, but it won me over. This is one of her better performances, and it deserved a bigger audience.
  • yusufpiskin
  • Aug 31, 2020
  • Permalink
7/10

Engaging but average thriller

Will engage you till the end but the screenplay is not upto pace and the thriller isn't upto the expectation. Anyway, one time watch.
  • ashimhbvsj
  • Jul 14, 2020
  • Permalink
2/10

Cheap thriller and poorly handled.

(2007) Possession DRAMA/ THRILLER

"Possession" as the movie indicates is just the name for the long weary set up of the film which centers on Jess (Sarah Michelle Geller) who loves her husband Ryan (Michael Landes) very much, but does not like her brother-in-law Roman (Lee Pace) at all, since he's sleazy and has just got out prison, who happens to live with them as well. A major car accident ensures with the only people conveniently involved are the two brothers of Ryan and Roman. Jess (the ex-convict) wakes up first but starts acting like he's been 'possessed' by her husband who's still in a coma. And as he tries to make advances toward her she continues to distance herself away from him as she convinces herself that her husband is going to wake up as well. The movie poses this question, is her sleazy brother-in-law just a fraud or has he really been possessed by her late husband? All I can say is that the film is excruciatingly bad, since viewers are oblivious what the Sarah Michelle Geller character already know beforehand, who just accidentally stumbles onto information, like it's always expected to happen in films all the time, and that kills the suspense making this one into a cheap thriller and poorly handled.
  • jordondave-28085
  • May 16, 2023
  • Permalink

Middle-Tier SMG But Still Solid

This is middle-tier SMG film, but I must say, it has really grown on me over the years. It's gorgeously shot, the story is pretty twisted which keeps you guessing, and Sarah has total command over the emotion of the film. She's pretty fantastic; she's always been one of the best criers in Hollywood, and here she manages a certain emotional state consistently as Jess collects these experiences and weighs the possibilities. Lee Pace is rather good, too.

The directors have a strong sense and a compelling approach to the material that is not stylish and clicks with the audience. The script is the most flawed aspect but serves the basis for a solid thriller. It's quite impressive that they filmed an entire alternative third act. I do prefer the alternative ending to the more Hollywood-ized final version. However, the producers made the right call. American audiences wouldn't have gone along with Jess's final motivations and conclusion in the alternative ending. I find the psychology so interesting.

I wish it would have had a proper wide theatrical release. It would've made $bank$ had it been released early February or mid-April.
  • RyanCShowers
  • Apr 18, 2021
  • Permalink

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