There’s a whole swath of horror films that seems so enamoured with the found-footage format – popularized by The Blair Witch Project – that they contrive plots or conceits just to accommodate it. Unfortunately, many never seem to use the format to any great effect, and we doubt we’re alone in finding many of them annoying.
The Possession of Michael King is yet another case in point. While there’s a reasonable set-up and explanation for why so much of the film poses as found footage, the format never feels vital or essential to the film in any way.
The film starts off with its eponymous central character (Shane Johnson) losing his wife (Cara Pifko) in a freak accident, leaving him with his young daughter. Michael, who is a filmmaker, decides to work out his grief by making a documentary disproving religion, spirituality, and the supernatural.
In a bid to do so, he visits a slew of necromancers, demonologists, and occult practitioners, and casts himself as their lab rat. Subjecting himself to a series of experiments, he soon finds that his skepticism in the supernatural coming back to bite him. In the midst of certain experiments, he is able to hear voices and come into contact with certain forces that may not be so benevolent after all, and that may be after his soul.
Shane Johnson is fantastic as Michael King, and carries much of the film on his shoulders, having to chart his character’s descent into bleaker territory with increasingly manic and crazed mannerisms. While we never truly buy his grief for his wife, either because of the relationship’s underwritten-ness or an inability on Johnson’s part to deal with the less showy aspects of the character, he does convey his character’s fast-spiralling psychosis decently.
So much of the found footage felt unnecessary. The film was constantly trying to find ways to make it plausible for Michael to carry a camera with him, but as with the case with many of these films, they cheat. There are some scenes that break out of found-footage mode, and when this happens, you’re taken out of whatever immediacy the film tries to conjure up in the first place. There are also found-footage scenes that never feel believable as found footage; some feature fast, punchy cuts of Michael King in various states of agony, which look clearly edited, and strange for found footage. It’s confusing at times to tell if and when a particular scene is supposed to be found footage or not.
Despite that, the film does try to be more moderate in its approach to the format. Camera shakes are not overly done (unlike, say, Cloverfield), and out-of-focus shots barely even feature at all in the film.
The film does serve up its fair share of scares. It’s a movie about a man’s possession, whaddya expect? First-time director David Jung does keep the tone tense, while managing to slowly ramp up the suspense. As the voices in Michael’s head grow stronger, and as he starts giving in to them, the film’s fright factor gets dialed up.
Tender moments are not swiped aside in the film too. Michael and daughter share several soft and affecting moments that offer some respite from the mayhem of the proceedings.
Overall, The Possession of Michael King is a serviceable horror film that’s suitably frightening at parts (if also having a number of scenes that fail in that department). Considering how many in the subgenre of found-footage horror films have turned out to be misfires, that’s something of a minor achievement.
Summary: A serviceable horror film that will offer up a fair number of scares.
RATING: 3 out of 5 stars
Raymond Tan