The Possession of Michael King (2014)

Very Refreshing Horror flick. It actually gripped me for a moment==had my heart pounding when he appeared in front of the camera from out of nowhere. Psychologically captivating, because it plays with your mind ==making you want to see whats gonna happen next, and just when you loose interest....BOOM!! Outta nowhere. Classic use of horror. The same classic method, but used to perfection through artistic timing. This is a breathe of fresh air compared to the recent and usual string of tasteless horror films. Not to get me wrong...there are a couple good ones. I can name a few more Oculus.....get back to you on that. David Jung hit a home run on this one. Great directorial debut!!

Fmovies: This film surprised me... and in a good way... I liked it!

I was interested in the concept of the story and this brought me to view the film. A family man loses his wife and is understandably absorbed by the deep loss he feels. He believes that her death could have been negated: They had previously been to a fortune teller-come-medium who had informed them to stay at home when they should have been on vacation. Had they ignored her advice his wife would still be alive. This sets off a train of thought in his brain and he decides to prove that the occult and paranormal are not real. Being a documentary film maker he resolves to get the evidence on film.

You know that he's going to be proved wrong and in a very dark and nasty way. Though, this is the case you don't know exactly what is coming. King then heads off to different people and groups who purport to be able to conjure dark entities and demons.

What I liked most about this film was the standard of acting which is of a high standard. Shane Johnson does well to hold the story and the film together as the lead. His portrayal of King and the many emotions he goes through is believable. There are also a couple of actors you may have seen before - Dale Dickey who plays the Fortune Teller and Cullen Douglas who is the mortician, he gives the character a suitably creepy feel.

I also loved the fact that on his visit to the Satanists they tell him what to expect from the demon he has chosen through psychography... and then we see this manifestation appear and grow slowly... then when they are later confronted we learn they never believed in it, it was just a way to get laid - a bit of kinkiness. This was just a little thing but it added a depth and a moral.

The drawback is that the film is done similar to found footage films so there is a lot of shaky camera work. Though there are some nice camera angles which add to the atmosphere of the film. There's also an overuse of grey filters. I know this is to create a bleak atmosphere but it would have been nice if this could have been done differently. Coloured filters are tired and old - they need to be retired or at least take a rest. God gave you an imagination and artistic licence, come on and use it.

There are some scenes that run on too long when the action should be starting to pick up and a couple which appear superfluous to the film. These just niggled me as they felt like time fillers - we could have had character and story development instead.

The special effects are superb and the pentagram carving is disturbing. I don't squirm much - I would have normally said, at all - but this had me agonizing with him; so a big thumbs up for that.

This isn't the best possession film out there but it is worth a viewing and I would recommend all fans of horror and possession flicks to give it a watch. I may even give this another viewing sometime.

I have noticed that some of the reviewers of this film on IMDb seem to have 'slated' quite a few films...without posting anything positive about any film. You would almost think that they choose films that they know they won't like...so that they have something to complain about!

I am not a big fan of horror films generally. More so with recent releases. I do like the classics. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre was intense! Very few modern day horrors seem to replicate these classics. If you think the 'The Possession of Micheal King' will do this, keep looking.

Having said that, the film is different from the usual 'slasher' tripe that seems to get rolled out year after year. Having experienced the boorish 'Saw' series (and other titles) and the endless graphic violence in other releases, 'The Possession of Micheal King' was a refreshing change.

Clearly it was not made with a huge budget. The acting is not 'Godfather' standard. Despite this, it's directing and themes reminds me of the Playstation Game 'Silent Hill' mixed with 'The Blair Witch Project' The 'Blair Witch Project' was another renowned film, 'slated' by many because of its poor production values and large marketing campaign. I almost sensed reviewer's anger that filmmakers could spend so little on producing a movie whilst also expecting artistic praise. As if poor production values automatically means a film is not worth watching. With care, this approach can produce something interesting that is worth watching.

So I commend the makers of 'The Possession of Micheal King'. The film keeps pace. It does not dwell and draw out scenes of violence. It does not treat the viewer like an idiot and explain every internal reference. Overall it is entertaining and worthy of a watch.

Perfect it ain't. Classic horror it ain't. It probably isn't everyone's cup of tea. But for a modern day horror that ISN'T a 'slasher'. I would say that is worth a watch.

The Possession of Michael King fmovies. I thought The Possession of Michael King was going to be an interesting "science against superstition" exercise, but unfortunately, the film didn't have that ambition, and it falls short on all those things which could have rescued it from its frustrating mediocrity. The story starts well with a moderately interesting motivation for its main character, whose skepticism regarding religion and supernatural subjects is transformed into a personal crusade as a consequence of a tragedy. But afterwards, when the supernatural manifestations come, the screenplay immediately loses its vaguely pseudo-scientific focus in order to follow an excessively predictable route completely lacking of ingenuity or originality. In fact, one of the "demonologists" interviewed by the main character explains the stages, symptoms and consequences of demonic invocation, and then, the film proceeds to exactly show us what it had announced, without deviating too much or focusing on the central subject, leaving us with a routine "possession" lacking of surprises or dramatic impact. And the documentary format whimsically fluctuates with pretty much frequency. When the main character loses control of the situation, the use of the hand- held camera becomes too forced, and generates various inconsistencies (for example, the camera captures the incorporeal voices which besiege the main character, but nobody else listens to them? How convenient!). In conclusion, I didn't like The Possession of Michael King, mainly because it lacks of the necessary discipline to go farther in each one of its aspects, starting by abandoning the documentary pretension and exploiting the advantage of a more conventional cinematographic style. Sometimes, we need distance and perspective to appreciate the horror. Besides of a camera which justifies its presence.

Horror fans, gore hounds, thrill seekers, chill seekers - listen up. This film ROCKS. It's got disturbing deaths, frightening images, and truly horrifying moments that made my blood boil. The Possession of Michael King doesn't break any new ground, but what makes it above average - and therefore the frightening scenes much scarier - is that we are invested in the story. In many ways, the film is a horror-bloated allegory for a man coming to terms with the death of his wife. Throw in a daughter in peril, an insidious demon, several horrific voodoo and satanic rituals, several horrifying deaths, and buckets of blood and terror and you can still see the actual emotional meat of the story shine through. Shane Johnson did a solid job as the titular character, whoever played the wife did a great job although her scenes were obviously limited, the little girl was very good. But I have to hand it down to the director. With sparsely used but effective graphic images and effects, this low budget film delivers classic, old-school, emotional suspense that typically doesn't make it into the Hollywood sandwich. An awesome job from a bunch of creative and unique people who like to ask questions and push the envelope.

A halfway decent plot is the only thing that really ties this movie together. The acting is actually pretty good, and there are even some very interesting characters that you can tell are having good fun with their parts. It's a simple plot, but grows on itself in an organic sort of way, consistently adding cohesive elements that work with the original idea. It's good writing.

Then there are two very real negatives to address. This is supposed to be a found footage feature, but when the camera hops too and fro and flips scenes so that you can see better, it really just destroys the illusion horribly. There are even instances where the camera appears to defy the action in the scene, such as remaining perfectly still while a crash has apparently happened. This sort of thing asks you to "turn off your brain" while you watch it. But honestly no one can really do that. There's always a little voice that says, "Hey, the camera can't do that! Oh yeah, this is a movie." It serves to impolitely yank you out of the immersion.

Make up your minds people. Is it, or is it not a found footage film? If it's not, then stop pretending that it's supposed to be.

Ultimately, the real problem is that this movie ends up being a simple jump scare feature. It's like having someone periodically popping a balloon in your ear while you are reading a scary book. Your adrenaline rushes, your heart pounds, your ears ring, and you exhibit all of the symptoms of "being afraid" without actually having a reason to be afraid. It's a cheap trick, and honestly it's very disappointing.

What's worse is that the "scare" volume is so incredibly high compared to the rest of the film that it's almost downright rude. After the first few times, I felt compelled to turn it off, but stuck it out instead only to have it periodically blast me throughout the rest of the feature. It's downright irritating.

All in all though, a pretty fun movie. I'm giving it a 7.