Ava's Possessions

<<

Under the Radar

>>

In my latest attempt to seek out a good horror/comedy, I stumbled on this particular title while browsing Netflix. Giving it a whirl, in the end, it ends up being one of those movies that has a great idea, but the execution is pretty poor.

Our movie opens with our lead, Ava (Louisa Krause), as we see that she's possessed, and an exorcism is taking place. This movie's most interesting idea is that it consists of what takes place in the aftermath of a possession. When all said and done, she has caused a lot of physical and emotional damage to several strangers. A large part of the opening is Ava just trying to make ammends to the people she attacked. As one can imagine, t doesn't generally go well. Even her friends want little to do with her because they're scared. Soon enough, the demon that possessed Ava previously is seen in flashes, and it's presumed that he is trying to come back.

In seeking help, Ava is pointed in the direction of a possession recovery support group - sort of an AA for those who are... *sigh*... trying to overcome their inner demons. Which, by the way, brings me to my biggest criticism of the film. The puns are really bad, and the jokes seem to consistently fall flat. It's honestly kinda hard to tell if it was made cheesy on purpose, because you hope the writers aren't serious. The actors do what they can with what they have though, and overall it's not terrible, but not great either.

It feels like the kind of movie that could be made into a really cool, original horror comedy. If it was just a little better written, it could have been a great sidestep from our usual demonic possession horror that seems to be drowning us lately. It could have done for demon movies what 'Warm Bodies' did for zombie movies. Unfortunately, the overall delivery of the movie just left me kinda cringing, saying "at least that concept came to light somewhere."

2/5

---