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the audience applauded

Captivating movie !

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

In the year 2000, "The Exorcist" was released to theaters in an extended cut, advertised as "The Version You've Never Seen." This was mostly a stunt but it successfully introduced one of the best horror films of all time to a new audience. The same year, I recall seeing advertisements for a Showtime TV movie called "Possessed," based off the "true events" that inspired "The Exorcist." Yes, this was a movie based on a reportedly true story that inspired a better known movie. For some reason, the movie always stuck in the back of mind. I seem to remember some decent reviews at the time. For years, I assumed it was a better-then-average TV movie. Finally seeing the movie now, I can see that isn't true. "Possessed" is a cheesy, melodramatic made-for-television schlock-fest.In the early 1950s, a little boy named Robbie begins to act erratically. He's using profanity and misbehaving at school. Bloody gashes and cuts appear on his body. Most alarmingly, he gains the ability to move things with his mind. The boys' parents don't know what to do, quickly turning to the local Catholic church. A troubled priest named William Bowden, and his student Raymond McBride, becomes involved. Bowden quickly begins to believe that the boy is genuinely possessed by a demon. He asks for an exorcism. Though the local bishop is reluctant to approve the ritual, he eventually gives them the go-ahead as long as it stay secret."Possessed" is simply not a very good horror movie. It's attempts to scare are obvious, ham-fisted, and poorly constructed. When Robbie first begins to display unusual behavior, he telekinetically slides his desk around his class room. The effect is hokey and overdone, generating laughter instead of chills. Later, he spins a chair in his living room around on its leg. This, too, is ridiculous looking and badly constructed. "Possessed" goes for the hackiest horror clichés. The little boy has a creepy ventriloquist dummy. The story is set during Halloween. The final exorcism takes place on a dark and stormy night. The actor playing Robbie is a freckled, beady-eyed redhead, which does not make for the most convincing scares. When the time comes for the demon to make itself known, "Possessed" limply recreates the famous things "The Exorcist" did. The boy yells profanity – not even very shocking profanity – in a cheesy demon voice. He spits and vomits. Worst yet is when he makes his bed hovers or produces a giant cross out of nothing. The melodramatic score, full of stock horror shocks, does not help matters.Starring in "Possessed" is Timothy Dalton. Dalton, the most underrated of James Bonds, plays Father Bowden. Bowden is haunted by his time in World War II when a dying soldiers on the battle field asks for his last rites and the priest ran and hid instead. The bayonet wound on his side is frequently referenced and, in the film's most overdone moments, it causes a lingering pain. Dalton gives the part his all, forcing as much of his natural charm in the rickety material as possible. It's no hope though. The character's drinking habit is the hoariest of clichés as is his struggle with his own faith. When the film calls on Dalton to directly threaten the demon, he seems to be playing it for humor. He actually tells the devil to "buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy night." Dalton appearing in schlock like this is sadly understandable but how the heck did they get Christopher Plummer to drop in on this? All his scenes were probably shot in a day but, even then, surely he had something better to do. For that matter, even Piper Laurie is above the material, during her even briefer cameo."Possessed" does an okay job of establishing its setting. The kid's watch "Duck and Cover" in class. Radios are everywhere. Milton Berle is referenced. Robbie reads Superman and horror comics. However, most of the film's attempts to appear timely do not succeed. Early on, Bowden attempts to break up a fight between black protesters and the racist mob attacking him. References to Hitler and World War II are sprinkled through. (The most embarrassing moment is when the possessed Robbie pretends to be an MC in hell, introducing the Fuher to the priests.) These attempts to root the movie in a specific time are heavy-handed and cheesy.Director Steven E. de Souza previously made "Street Fighter," a movie that gets a little more leeway with me then anyone else. Maybe de Souza should have stuck with Van Damme. By blatantly inviting comparison to a cinematic masterpiece like "The Exorcsit," "Possessed" was setting itself up for failure. By filling its run time with the corniest of dime store horrors, it sets itself up for unintentional laughter.

Possessed is a cheesy. but great made-for-cable movie from Showtime. That's based on the true story of the demonic possession and exorcism of "Robbie Mannheim" (aka "Roland Doe"...both being pseudonyms to protect his identity)- which also just so happens to be the case on which the original The Exorcist novel and film were based.This film, itself, is based off the 1993 book-of-the-same-name by Thomas B Allen; which heavily relies upon the accounts of Raymond J. Bishop and Walter H. Halloran- two of the priests who took part in the successful exorcism, during which a demonic entity by the name of Dominus was driven from the boy...who would then go on to lead a normal life.In the film, we follow Robbie-a youngster who enjoys comic books and toy soldiers- whose parents are strict and sometimes overbearing. His grandmother, though, is a sort of mystic, who fosters his creativity...and teaches him about contacting spirits via the ouija board.Shortly after her passing, unexplainable things start to happen around their family home: bizarre sounds without sources are heard, while inanimate objects are seen moving around on their own. Around the same time, Robbie starts to burst into violent, angry rages; speak in ancient languages; and exhibits extraordinary strength...as if he has become someone else entirely.Terrified, his parents take him to see a Catholic Priest at Georgetown University Hospital. Here an exorcism is attempted by Priest named of Edward Hughes. Though, somehow during the process, the boy manages to pry a spring from the bed and use it to slice open the arm of the priest...cutting the ritual short.Enter our two protagonists: Raymond J Bishop & William S Bowdern, who are both Professors and Priests at St Louis University. They are assisted by a younger Priest named Halloran, and together, the three men would subject Robbie to a number of ritual exorcism attempts. During these rituals, upwards of 48 people- including 9 Jesuit Priests- had witnessed the supernatural occurrences that had been exhibited through the boy.Such events included the uttering of guttural voices; knowledge of Greek and Latin; the sudden, yet temporary, formation of words like hell and evil etched into the boy's skin; extraordinary feats of strength; knowledge of things he couldn't possibly have known; pissing; vomiting; profanity; and poltergeist activity.Finally, after discovering the hidden name, date, and time of changing, left in clues uttered by the spiritual force possessing the young boy, Dominus. The three priests were able to drive the dark entity from the boy's soul. However, the Catholic Church oriented a full cover-up, after the fact.Whereas some of the acting in this film is a bit cheesy, you've got to respect what they did with a clearly low budget. It has an appealing cult-style and contains some cool special effects. Overall, it is similar, in content, to films like The Entity; with a style reminiscent of The Changeling- which is probably the most realistic ghost film ever made. This is a film that is based on a story so wild, that it will change the way you look at the world. And this version keeps more true to the tale than does The Exorcist...so it's worth watching for that reason alone. Recommended.6 out of 10.

(THERE ARE SPOILERS) Said to be based on the only documented exorcism in modern time the movie "Possessed" in it's own crazy and mind blowing way shows it's audience just why exorcisms are so strongly avoided by the Catholic Church. They end up driving everyone involved in them out of their minds. The case of Father Willam Bowden, Timothy Dalton, is a perfect example in that when you play with fire, or in this case the Devil, you end up getting both burned and possibly committed.Father Bowden is troubled with an event that happened when he was a Chaplin on the Western Front for the US Army in WWII. On All Saints Day, November 1, 1944, Bowden freaked out and didn't come to the aid, in giving him the last rites, of a wounded comrade who was dying from a blast of lead he received from a German submachine gun. It's was moments later that Bowden himself was run trough with a bayonet that almost killed him.Back in the states in Saint Louis MO. Father Bowden gets himself involved in a case of demonic possession that has little 11 year-old boy Robbie Mannheim, Jonahan Malen,doing things that defy scientific explanation. Making furniture move at will and levitating off his bed as well as pucking and relieving himself with so much bodily fluids that even a full grown elephant's stomach or bladder couldn't hold has his parents Mr. & Mrs. Mannheim,Michael Rhoades & Phyllis Lawson, very worried indeed. They think that their little Robbie is going insane.It's only when Robbie attacked Reverend Eckardt, Richard Waugh, causing him to have 66 stitches in his right arm that it was decided to look into using the church, via a church sanctioned exorcism, to help the very troubled and disturbed young man.At first being against the exorcism Archbishop Hume, Christopher Plummer, agrees to it if only that it's kept from the public and the Catholic Church involvement is totally covered up. It's then that Father Bowden and his assistant Father McBride,Henry Czerny, are given the go ahead to preform the act. It takes a while until both Fathers Bowden & McBride realize just how difficult this exorcism of little Robbie will be. The two Catholic priests have to go through at least three different exorcism's until they finally get the Devil, who's trying to take over Robbie's body and soul, to show himself. This all leads to the movies unbelievable and shocking climax where Father Bowden acts and looks like a man possessed not by the Holy Spirit but the Devil himself!Timothy Dalton is without a doubt really enjoying his role as Father Bowden as he seem to be so into it that you don't for a moment feel that he's acting. The guy is so caught up in the role of the tormented, from his guilt feelings in WWII, Catholic Priest that he comes across even more deranged as well as possessed then the already off the wall Robbie ever was in the movie. Johathan Malen as Robbie actually does a far better job then even Linda Blair did as the possessed 12 year-old girl in the original "Exorcist". Without garish makeup and his head turning around in circles, which was far more comical then scary when Miss Blair did it, Malen was far more convincing as a child possessed by the Devil then Linda Bair ever was.The movie "Possesed" also has Piper Laurie as Robbie's Aunt Hanna who's part in the young boys problems, demonic possession, is never really explained. Aunt Hanna seemed to have gotten Robbie into the occult science's, with things like playing with a wee-gee board, but died too soon, about ten minutes into the film, to really account for the wild and crazy things that happened after she left the scene. Or did Aunt Hanna from beyond the grave orchestrate everything that happened to both Robbie and Father Bowden after her sudden demise?

This would have been a really fine telefilm if only the director and/or screenwriter had made up their mind what kind of movie they wanted to make of this story. A subtle psychological drama where possession was only hinted at? Or an all-out, balls-to-the-wall action/revenge film (with holy water instead of M-16's)? About three fourths of the way through, this movie changes rather ludicrously from the former to the latter. In one particular non-dialogue moment, shortly after the two priests' pre-game pep talk in the monastery chapel, I was like, "No way. They DID NOT just go there!" (I won't give away what this moment was, but if you watch the DVD you'll know exactly what I mean.) That said, this is a very well produced and well acted project. Even though the tone shifts all over the place and is seriously off the chain at the end. Timothy Dalton gives a fine and accessible performance (albeit, as the type of priest that exists only in Hollywood -- the studly, hardbitten, chain-smoking, foul-mouthed, whisky-drinking, punch-throwing cynic with a Purple Heart and PTSD). His sometimes-American, sometimes-British accent is all over the map but you don't really notice after a while. By the end of the movie he is channeling Harrison Ford big time. He looks good and has several terrific scenes before everything goes completely over the cliff into silliness (the script and direction's fault, not his).Dalton is ably backed up by Henry Czerny as another priest, by Christopher Plummer as an archbishop, and the actor playing the possessed kid is quite good too. It's just such a shame that as the film goes on, every scene seems to be taken out of a different playbook (Serious Drama! Psychological Complexity! Rambo!) and the actors have to all keep up as best they can. The fine cast isn't wasted, so much as they are thrown this way, that way and the other way from scene to scene by the unfocused tone of the screenplay.This movie could have been so much better if they just canned a lot of the suggestive music, kept the emphasis on the psychological and the subtle (there ARE some subtly creepy moments that really work, at least in the first half), and canned the whole misguided "Raiders of the Lost Souls" crap at the end.The best compliment I can give this film, is that I would have liked to see a weekly series with Dalton and Czerny as priests solving murder mysteries or something. They made a good team.