Grace: The Possession

POV or point of view or call it whatever you want, it's something I will never get why you would want to shoot a movie like that. I can't stand that first person view, the only time I can stand it is when I play a first person shooter game on my console. In a movie it's just a technique that doesn't work. In fact I never saw a good movie made like that and I watch a lot of movies. The story itself is also pretty lame. When I read possession in the title I imagine immediately things like in the classic The Exorcist (1973) from William Friedkin. In that movie Linda Blair gave the best possessed performance ever and the special effects for that time were pretty good and special. For this movie, made in 2014 by the way, the special effects are laughable. It's not even a matter of budget as I'm sure any kid with a bit of technology knowledge can do better nowadays. As a horror it was also laughable. I could watch this movie on Halloween in the middle of the woods, alone at night, and still it wouldn't have any effect on me. It's boring, not scary, and the POV is boring as hell to watch. The acting was okay though, but that's about it.

I was really pleasantly surprised. The first-person POV is well done, the cast can act, the story is complete, and there isn't a single wasted moment.

What may turn some potential viewers off is that this movie is also Lifetime-channel-ready, as there is no gore or nudity (at least in the version I saw), which normally would be fine for me, because I don't need the typical tacky tropes of horror movies to be able to enjoy a horror movie.

However, in this case, the lack of nudity and gore is actually too safe and too tame, as it detracts from the movie's overall impact, especially with the back story glimpses and progressive changes in the lead character, but that's hardly a reason to stay away. And there must be the inevitable director's cut available sooner or later...

This is the story of Grace (Alexia Fast), an orphan whose mother died in childbirth and a father she never knew. These are her experiences in her college days and the terrible things that happen soon after.

Up front, it must be said that this "Grace" has nothing to do with the film "Grace" from 2009 starring Jordan Ladd. This shared title is unfortunate, as it will likely confuse horror fans. On the plus side, this is probably the better of the two films, so if the two are going to be inevitably compared, at least it will be favorable.

Viewers should be warned that this is a POV film, shot from the vision of Grace. Now, to be clear, it is not found footage and is not supposed to be a camera filming -- it is merely what Grace's eyes see during different events, including tug of war, meaning we only ever see the title character if she looks in a mirror. (The mirror moments provide for some interesting camera tricks, and whether they are practical or not are a good feat.) Besides the mirrors, another interesting element is that even dreams are from Grace's point of view. And these are terrifying, realistic dreams.

As much as POV can generally be a hindrance, or even annoyance, director Jeff Chan was clever enough to take it in some new directions here and should be complimented on his efforts. (The drinking scene is reminiscent of The Prodigy's music video for "Smack My B* Up", in a good way.) The POV even pays off later on, with a slight twist that may be the most clever of all. (Unfortunately, it would be impossible to reveal that plot point, so you will just have to watch and see.) We also get some better than average possession effects, including burns, vomiting blood and the loss of teeth. The scares grow as the film moves along, and the suspense is built up quite nicely.

In a supporting role, we have Joel David Moore as a deacon and youth group leader, which is a much more serious role than he is known for playing in such films as "Dodgeball" and "Hatchet". In the second half, he becomes the object of Grace's questionable affections. In some ways, this is the most troubling and gets into the dangerous territory of priests and sex.

Another supporting role has Lin Shaye as an ultra-religious grandmother (or foster mother). Shaye has been a horror staple at least since "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and she is fine form here, even if her role is rather small.

Is this worth checking out? Yes. While maybe not the hit of the year, it is not a film that should be going under the radar and it would be great to see where Alexia Fast goes next. (She is already carving a nice horror niche with films including "Fido" and "Last Kind Words", not to mention her appearance on "Masters of Horror".)

Yeah so the movie is in POV and sometimes it seems like it's going to be OKish but then it's not. Especially the end. It's pretty lame. That's pretty much it.

The sub-genre of 'Demonic Possession' has become most frequent in recent horror movie releases & most of them turns out average or below average time-wasters. So I was quite skeptical about it, mostly after watching the trailer. The weird thing about this movie is it isn't a found footage flick but the entire film shot on POV format...from the first-person perspective, mostly of a possessed person. Now, as a POV flick with such a common subject matter, surprisingly it still turned out intelligently well made & very decent overall. The reason it works mostly for keeping all things together pretty simple with good cast & characterization and its decent flow or execution of the story.

Instead of that bad trailer that not only gave too much away but also kind of provide a wrong impression about the movie, the trailer for it required to be short & cleverly done, IMO.