It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Fables, legends and folklore. I usually love watching these type of film/docos but this is jumping all over the place . These kids obviously would have been diagnosed differently now but it seems to focus a lot on the torturous ways of the victorians in dealing with, for want of a better word , mental, patients . By bringing in guest presenters like John Zaffis doing straight faced pieces to camera validates(a word so overused in the ghost world) the authenticity of the stories. Urban explorers and a man who is making me laugh swaying and in a bath giving an insight to the spirit world saying the baths were at different temperatures. Really ? He doesn't know he's in an asylum? It says ASYLUM above the front entrance. If he knows this area he will know the legend of the house too . The victorians were totally into seances as parlour entertainment . What was their choice ? Send their kid away or put her up for intrigue and helping another father who lost his child in an asylum . Dewi - a wannabe . Kelly obviously suffered from the teenage angst problem of cutting herself . Other people labelling them as possessed . Badly written,directed and produced and on camera too. This is what happens when you can't let go of the reins and delegate other people to do the jobs that stop the onslaught of self indulgence . Feels like an advert for the Roff house . I love Bill Tolley and his gadgets.

Another "documentary" about ghost hunters and a true-life historical haunting. This time around the story is about a historical possession case which may have inspired THE EXORCIST (but probably didn't) which is linked to an old mental institution. There are some of the expected silly ghost hunting scenes here, but also a lot of interview clips and documentary narration. I have no idea how real any of this is, but stylistically it's cheap, cheap, cheap and very fake-looking.

Possessed, The (2009)** 1/2 (out of 4) The third documentary from Spooked Productions who specialize in taking a look at real life cases. Using actual photos, recreations and experts on the matter, this film takes a look at what has become known as the Watseka Possession. In 1865, Mary Roff became possessed and eventually died. Twelve years later another girl in the town, Lurrancy Vennum, became possessed with what appeared to be the spirit of Mary. I think the success of a film like this is going to depend on the person actually watching it. Speaking for myself, I love watching these true story cases and the stuff that we'd see on Unsolved Mysteries years and years ago. In order for a film like this to work I think it's important if the person watching actually believes something like this can happen and I do. Now, the most important thing is for the movie to be creepy and this one here does have some effective moments but not enough to be a complete winner. The actual case on display here is a very interesting one and the mystery surrounding what actually happened is something the filmmakers really focus on and I think they milk it for all its worth. Seeing some real items that were used on "crazy" people back then was quite eerie especially one chair that was used to "calm" people but some people could end up spending six months just sitting there. The one big negative is that other possessed stories are inter cut into the main one and I think this was a problem. These side interviews take away from the main story but the side ones are also so small that we never really get to learn too much about them. There are rumors that this story was one of the major influences on what would become THE EXORCIST so fans of that film might be interested in checking this one out.