About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

Well made but pretty standard found footage stuff.

Pros

• Good acting
• Solid gore and special effects

Cons

• Predictable
• Not very scary

Description

• Starring Shane Johnson, Ella Anderson, Cara Pifko, Julie McNiven, Luke Baines, Tomas Arana, Dale Dickey, Cullen Douglas
• Directed by David Jung
• Rated R
• Release Date: August 26, 2014

The Possession of Michael King DVD Review

After his wife dies suddenly in an accident, documentarian Michael King decides that his next film will be an attempt to debunk the paranormal.

In his mind, his wife would still be alive if she'd gone on the European vacation he'd planned instead of canceling the trip to stay at home in hopes of landing an acting gig her psychic foretold she'd get soon.

By exposing the fraud of mysticism and religion, he hopes to stop others from similarly wasting their efforts (and their lives) on such beliefs. An avowed atheist, Michael decides to focus on "the blackest of the black magic, the stuff that people are scared of, so that when they don't work, people will pay attention." With cameras running 24/7, he makes himself a guinea pig, allowing himself to be subjected to necromancy, demonology and all manner of dark arts. The deeper he gets in the experiment and the more he encounters unexplainable phenomena, his beliefs begin to soften, but will his change of heart come too late to save himself -- and his daughter Ellie?

The Possession of Michael King is a cut above typical direct-to-video "found footage" fare -- and frankly, it outperforms some major theatrical found footage releases, including similarly themed demonic possession films The Devil Inside and Devil's Due.

In what is largely a one-man show, Shane Johnson excels as the titular character, riding his downward spiral into a nearly subhuman state. The impressive makeup effects help sell the transformation, even if there are a couple of CGI hiccups that don't work as well as the practical effects.

Although the found footage aspect gives the storyline a fresh coat of paint (though not nearly as fresh as it once was), the plot of a nonbeliever slowly coming around after being hounded by the supernatural is hardly original, and it plays out exactly as you'd expect it to. Those viewers who find themselves nauseated by the typical found footage style, however, might find The Possession of Michael King a bit more palatable; the camerawork isn't quite as shaky, and because Michael is in most of the shots, there's less of a first-person point of view.

Because of the found footage restrictions, some technical elements are a bit bothersome -- like, how does the camera microphone pick up the voices in his head? And some of the shots captured feel at best highly convenient and at worst downright impossible. Likewise, some of the characters' actions are perplexing: after suffering through several sleepless nights, Michael somehow doesn't consider sleeping pills until his sister gives them to him, and a mortician moonlighting as a necromancer is appalled when Michael shows up at his day job but thinks nothing of showing his dark dabblings publicly in the documentary?

Still, The Possession of Michael King is well made enough with a quick moving, efficient, 80-minute running time that allows you to look past its shortcomings and enjoy it for the predictable but entertaining fare it is.

The DVD

No special features.

Movie: C+
DVD: F