A Slow-Burn Horror Film That Oozes Atmosphere

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MOVIE REVIEW
Possession (Forbannelsen)
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Genre: Horror
Year Released: 2022
Runtime: 1h 44m
Director(s): Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken
Writer(s): Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken
Cast: Jan Sælid, Eva Nergård, Tarjei Sandvik Moe, Anna Filippa Hjarne, Dennis Storhøi, Benjamin Helstad, Nina Ellen Ødegård, Ellen Dorrit Petersen
Where To Watch: in select US theaters + on VOD starting October 7th, 2022

RAVING REVIEW: Norwegian horror films that are also period films maybe aren’t my cup of tea. I thought initially it might just be the style of film, but upon digging further, I don’t know that I’ve ever watched another horror film from Norway, so now I’m curious.

This was a slow burn; the film took what felt like forever to get to the point of the story taking off. I will give it credit for tackling the Spanish flu epidemic, and I can’t help but feel that it was intentional to parallel the COVID pandemic (although I don’t have any confirmation on that at all.)

I will say that when things got going, the film’s period setting added a great atmosphere to the scene. Possession films are a dime a dozen, so this had a lot of potential to be another unique mix of drama/horror but the creepy moments had some of the thunder stolen because there was such a long drought getting to them.

Ultimately, it feels like something I’ve seen without the same execution level. Thankfully, some great visuals offset the pacing of the film. The idea of the slow possession stalls out at times and then excels at others. I’m hoping this is more of a “me” problem, and I’m going to make it a goal of mine to check out other films within this subgenre from the area. Maybe this is the style, or perhaps this is an outlier that I just didn’t appreciate fully.

If you have any suggestions, either from the director or the genre in general, please reach out and let me know. I feel the pieces are there, but I was looking for an edge piece and could only find the middle parts while watching.

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