Very well executed

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

What lured me in to watch "Grace: The Possession" aside from the fact that it is a horror movie, was the movie cover/poster, because it did seem interesting and have some odd, twisted appeal to it. And also the fact that Lin Shaye was in it had some pull as well.However, it quickly became clear that this movie was going to be one of those movies that make you curl your toes and not sit well with you. Especially so for me. First of all, I am not fond of found footage, which this luckily wasn't. But they had taken it one step beyond that in terms of camera work and made it a point-of-view experience. Are you kidding me? As if the found footage camera work is not questionable, then they had to go beyond that. That approach to the presentation of the movie was just ridiculous and it was almost enough to make me get up and turn off the movie just because of that.Then lets move on to the storyline. Well, it was as predictable as they come. And it seemed as if the writers had just previously been going through a movie marathon and written the script for "Grace: The Possession" with the impressions of those movies still fresh in mind. Because it lacked originality.Furthermore, then the movie was frightfully devoid of scares or anything even remotely disturbing or chilling, which is essential for a proper horror movie. "Grace: The Possession" just trotted along on a very generic path on a very generic mission; to be as plain and mundane as possible.And as a horror movie that doesn't rely on a proper storyline or scares, then at least a proper and impressive special effects repertoire would be to prefer. But no, not here, not with "Grace: The Possession". I will go as far at to stating that it seemed like they actively voted on not to put special effects into the movie. Again, a thing that was lacking from the movie, and dragged it further down.The acting in the movie was adequate, although it was hardly Lin Shaye's best performance. Then again, she didn't have the lead role, so it wasn't centered on her performance. Alexia Fast, who did have the lead role, was hindered terribly in her performance by the atrocious point-of-view approach the film makers opted for.If you enjoy a good and proper horror movie, then do yourself a favor and pick another movie, because "Grace: The Possession" is anything but possessed and anything but entertaining.

Alexia Fast plays Grace, a virginal, sweet, repressed girl who may or may not be in the possession of a demon. At first, her induction into college is trouble free, but what with hallucinations of death, feinting spells, nightmares and an inability to truly 'fit in' (despite her best efforts), she is soon taken back to her home, and her puritanical, purse-lipped grandmother who has long since been her Guardian. Poor Grace is barked at, shouted at, talked down to, bullied and ordered around against her will, before the inner evil she carries is let out in a climactic finale which exposes the reasons for the demon's mission of retribution. What sets this apart from virtually every other horror film I've seen is that everything is seen from Grace's point-of-view: we are her eyes, we see first-hand how she is treated, we feel her pain. At first, this threatens to be a clumsy way of story-telling (the only times we actually see Grace is in her reflection in mirrors, the rest of Fast's performance – apart from vocal – is the nervous ringing of her hands and fiddling with her dress to demonstrate unease), but very soon, we have become used to this painstakingly achieved way of telling a solid possession story.The cast are great. Apart from the excellent Fast, there is Lin Shaye as the shrew of a Grandmother (herself an outcast from her fellow church-goers) and Alan Dale as Father John, the man ultimately responsible for all that is happening. His drowning in holy water is too mild a punishment for him.The exorcism at the end, where effects come to the fore, still being shown from Grace's POV, nearly lapses into cartoon CGI, but manages to avoid that before an 'Exorcist (1973)'-style denouement.

OK, so ill begin by saying this isn't perfect. In face far from it. I had been looking to watch this movie for a while after seeing its trailer, and I'm incredibly glad I gave it a shot. The POV aspect to the movie really gave it a unique feel to it. sort of like the movie Maniac, I felt like I was watching through the eyes of the possessed. A few scenes I felt weren't necessary to the story line. Such as the scenes in the College and the classes were sort of un-needed and some of Grace's hallucinations were very un-necessary.The scares in this movie were not as generic as I thought they would be. When first seeing this film I thought they'd be. Some of the scares were longer than brief and kept me with my hands covering my eyes for a short period of time. The scares were added well with the story too.Lets turn to the acting. This film itself contained some familiar actors/actresses, but also a few that i have never seen before. Alexia Fast plays Grace in this movie and really gives a strong performance, a lot more pressure went onto her when filming due to her having to look in the same directions as the cameras were moving, so for that i would give her credit. she did a brilliant job changing from good to evil throughout the film, and showed great emotion in her performance. Lin Shaye did a brilliant job of playing Helen (the religious grandma), and i felt like her performance matched the way she performed in Ouija (2014), i would not go as far as to say she was as good as her character in Insidious (2011). which I'd say is her career defining performance. Overall I would say this is a very basic possession movie, with the addition of the POV aspect which i think worked incredibly well.7/10

This is the story of Grace (Alexia Fast), an orphan whose mother died in childbirth and a father she never knew. These are her experiences in her college days and the terrible things that happen soon after.Up front, it must be said that this "Grace" has nothing to do with the film "Grace" from 2009 starring Jordan Ladd. This shared title is unfortunate, as it will likely confuse horror fans. On the plus side, this is probably the better of the two films, so if the two are going to be inevitably compared, at least it will be favorable.Viewers should be warned that this is a POV film, shot from the vision of Grace. Now, to be clear, it is not found footage and is not supposed to be a camera filming -- it is merely what Grace's eyes see during different events, including tug of war, meaning we only ever see the title character if she looks in a mirror. (The mirror moments provide for some interesting camera tricks, and whether they are practical or not are a good feat.) Besides the mirrors, another interesting element is that even dreams are from Grace's point of view. And these are terrifying, realistic dreams. As much as POV can generally be a hindrance, or even annoyance, director Jeff Chan was clever enough to take it in some new directions here and should be complimented on his efforts. (The drinking scene is reminiscent of The Prodigy's music video for "Smack My B* Up", in a good way.) The POV even pays off later on, with a slight twist that may be the most clever of all. (Unfortunately, it would be impossible to reveal that plot point, so you will just have to watch and see.) We also get some better than average possession effects, including burns, vomiting blood and the loss of teeth. The scares grow as the film moves along, and the suspense is built up quite nicely.In a supporting role, we have Joel David Moore as a deacon and youth group leader, which is a much more serious role than he is known for playing in such films as "Dodgeball" and "Hatchet". In the second half, he becomes the object of Grace's questionable affections. In some ways, this is the most troubling and gets into the dangerous territory of priests and sex.Another supporting role has Lin Shaye as an ultra-religious grandmother (or foster mother). Shaye has been a horror staple at least since "A Nightmare on Elm Street", and she is fine form here, even if her role is rather small.Is this worth checking out? Yes. While maybe not the hit of the year, it is not a film that should be going under the radar and it would be great to see where Alexia Fast goes next. (She is already carving a nice horror niche with films including "Fido" and "Last Kind Words", not to mention her appearance on "Masters of Horror".)