I have been watching horror films lately, which is a bit of a switch for me. I remember seeing the Exorcist films and even watched the second one again recently, wanting more of the inner life and workings of the priest, Father Merrin. This film far exceeds any I have seen dealing with this subject matter before (Emily Rose being a close second). You have the usual Hollywood stuff thrown in, but what really gave this film such a high mark for me was the great masculine, spiritually focused portrayal by the main priest as played by Timothy Dalton. His characters friendship with the other priest and his inner life is exactly what I longed for in similar films dealing with exorcism but NEVER found. This is not a perfect film and Dalton does say one famous Betty Davis line that takes you right out of the film (I laughed) but its entertaining and I think riveting. More time could have been spent with the overwrought parents, especially the dad who seemed more possessed than the kid at times, and they didn't spend months working on the child as I think it took in real life, but all in all a good faith effort. Yes, a testimony in part of the fact that Jesus has Won and Wins and that saving souls is still important even in modern times. Rent the DVD and watch the extra (a real life interview with one of the priests involved in the exorcism).

Well what can I tell you. When the boy starts to act like a talk show host..HILARIOUS!!! The cussing....well i don't like demonic possession movies with cussing. I like demonic possession movies that show physical strength of the supernatural like the classic THE EXORCIST. And in my opinion THE EXORCIST's sister THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE. Those films were great films. I loved them!!! But this was a disappointment. Wasn't scary...the demons voice was rather weird. One of the things i found cool was when he says "There is no single name. I am Legion. We are many." That was cool. When he say's his name in Latin...that was OK. It wasn't the best movie i have seen. THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE was awesome. THE EXORCIST was cool. But this is just a plain embarrassment to a modern day Hollywood horror movie. I think if you make an exorcism movie it should be as scary as THE EXORCIST and as intense as THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE. And by intense i don't mean cussing or anything like that. They could have done better than this. I know they could have.-Sorry for the horrible review but i want a decent horror movie. Not this load of crap.

This film seems to inspire wildly varying responses. The only respondent who comes close to my response was the one who asked if it was supposed to be a goof. EXACTLY! Yet this writer still didn't like it very well.I thought POSSESSED was hilariously funny in places (the "Union forever" shot that riffs on Citizen Kane was probably my favorite). Robbie's wisecracks were also often quite funny, as well as the satiric presentation of his penny-pinching TV-zombie father, and the hapless clergyman who tries to use Robbie to make a name in the world of parapsychology. The humor is consistent but VERY dry, so that a casual viewer not expecting this from a "possession" film might miss it altogether. Yet despite the humor, the film did maintain an effectively creepy atmosphere, and it had something to say about the Cold-War Fifties. To me it was an impressive balancing act with fine acting from Dalton and Czerny, clever script, and nice directorial touches. Mixing humor and terror goes back to Hitchcock, of course, but very few filmmakers can carry off effectively. M. Night Shyamalan is the current master of it, and POSSESSED isn't in his class. But it's definitely worth checking out!

**** MILD SPOILERS ****This is based on a true story is it ? If that`s the case then why does the opening caption read " Somewhere in France , All saints day , 1944 " Couldn`t the caption have given the exact location ? , or would that lead people to research the integrity of this true story ? Since reading about the truth in " true stories " like PAPILLON and SLEEPERS alarm bells always ring in my head when the words " true " and " story " appear side by side , and if the story is in fact true ask yourself this question : If the events on screen actually happened then why isn`t the case better known . I mean if chairs were running around putting the boot into teachers wouldn`t that be front page news .My second criticism is that I thought this was going to be a bit more light hearted . Of course as soon as the waffen SS turned up and got some bayonet practice in I realised this wasn`t going to be the case , but by then the damage had been done and I knew not to expect any intentional laughs POSSESSED isn`t of much interest except for one aspect - How things used to be . For example smoking wasn`t the social crime it is now , only white people were allowed to be catholics , commies existed and wanted to drop atomic bombs on the USA , young teenage boys could be looked after by priests without any suspicion and teenagers swearing was a certain sign that there were demonic forces at work . Ah the good old days NB : That last line was sarcasm before anyone complains