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Grace: The Possession Review

Grace: The Possession

I’ve never really been a fan of first person shooter games. For some reason, although it is supposed to emulate what a character is actually seeing with their own eyes, I never really felt like it was done correctly. It was just never real enough. After seeing Franck Khalfoun’s Maniac remake a couple of years ago and a couple of segments in the V/H/S/ franchise, however, I was shocked to realize that this type of perspective can work pretty well in horror films. Utilizing the first person technique once again, Jeff Chan has created a supernatural horror film where viewers can experience everything through the eyes of a young girl who has become possessed by evil.

Grace: The Possession is about our titular character going away to college and leaving her overbearing grandmother for the first time. There, Grace is tempted by things she never experienced before — sex and drugs. In hopes of steering Grace clear of the same fate her mother faced, her grandmother quickly tries to keep her from going back to school, forcing her to stay locked in the house with her once again. This only pushes Grace further away and right into the house of God where an eventual exorcism takes place. Can the priests save her from this demon that she is unaware exists inside of her…?

After hearing about a first person possession film and watching the trailer, I was extremely excited for Grace. I thought this film would be one of the greatest exorcism films I’d ever seen and it would outshine anything ever done before. While it did have some good things going for it, the overall product wasn’t nearly as good as I’d amped myself up for.

I believe it was really the script, penned by Chris Pare and director Jeff Chan, himself, that caused this movie to fall flat of its potential. All pieces of the puzzle were present to make this a success — a cast of capable performers, including Lin Shaye (Insidious) and Joel David Moore (Hatchet), impressive special effects, and a unique filming technique. While these things were all great, I just couldn’t get involved in the story. Alexia Fast did a great job playing the sheltered Grace, but the character herself wasn’t very interesting. I didn’t care for her. Also, because of the possession, it wasn’t clear if what we were seeing through Grace’s eyes were real events or just hallucinations or visions of some kind. If these things were made a little more evident, perhaps it would have made the story a bit more intriguing.

I do want to say that not all was a loss in this film. The last 15 minutes or so is when things finally picked up and made up for some of the disappointment that the rest of the film had created. The exorcism scene was able to finally grab my attention and show what Grace really had to offer. It was pretty special effects heavy, but it all looked pretty great and I can imagine it being rather intense for some horror genre novices. This was certainly a nice end to the film, leaving me with a better taste in my mouth than I came to expect.

If you are a fan of first person video games and are in search of a unique take on the possession genre, give Grace: The Possession a watch. It is available on DVD and Digital HD from Sony Home Entertainment today.

I give this film 2.5 bibles out of 5.

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