The Possession

Filmed under the misspelled working title ‘The Dibbuk Box’, Ole Bornedal’s bog standard horror movie has just one unique selling point: the religion involved is not Catholicism but Judaism, so the inevitable exorcism is performed not by a priest but by Hasidic rabbi Tzadok (played by Jewish reggae singer Matisyahu). Otherwise, genre fans attracted by Sam Raimi’s producer credit will be treated to something even duller and more conventional than ‘Drag Me To Hell’.

A suburban family already torn apart by divorce is almost rent asunder when, unable to decipher the ominous Hebrew inscription on a carved wooden box bought at a yard sale, 10-year-old Emily (Natasha Calis) opens it, unleashing a host-seeking demon. Emily’s parents, teenage sister and school teachers are bemused and alarmed by her increasingly erratic and violent behaviour.

It all plays out just the way you’d expect, and no possession movie cliché is left unused, as sibilant demonic whisperings and exploding light bulbs give way to bodily contortions and husky-voiced ejaculations. An anodyne MRI scan stands in for the distressing arteriogram in ‘The Exorcist’, but the film was cut to scrape a PG-13 rating in the States, so everything is toned down for a teen audience.