Labelling this “the Jewish Exorcist” wouldn’t begin to cover the recycled influences at work in the tamely titled The Possession, but it’s a good start. Divorced dad (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) wants to be there for his daughters and reconcile with overprotective mother (Kyra Sedgwick). But their boring lives are threatened when daughter Emily acquires the Dybbuk box; an ornate wooden vessel containing an ancient Hebrew demon which she picks up for $48 at a nearby yard sale. The rest of the movie is cribbed wholesale from The Exorcist, The Omen, Poltergeist, and any of a dozen other influences this overly-stale copy wears on its sleeve. Hasidic reggae artist Matisyahu, as a barely-awake but mystically aware rabbi, wins most interesting aspect of the movie almost by default. Like the demonic Jewish yard sale box in question, this movie’s best left untouched.
This article appears in Sep 6-12, 2012.