Ava's Possessions(2015)

Ava's Posessions(2015)

Director/Writer: Jordan Galland Starring: Louisa Krause, Whitney Able, Deborah Rush, William Sadler, Zachary Booth, Lou Talyor Pucci, Wass Stevens, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Geneva Carr, Dan Fogler, and Carol Kane.

I have honestly never seen a film like this before. It documents the affects of an individuals life after being posessed by a demonic force. Clearly going full on Regan MacNeil would cause a lot of trouble in every day life...not everyone can catch a posession right away and chain you to a bed. In Ava's(Louisa Krause) case, she is pressed with multiple charges and given 3 options on how to take care of them by her lawyer. She chooses a program created for people like her that end up under Satan's finger. The alcoholics anonymous type group for people who've experienced demonic posession is run by Tony(Wass Stevens). His whole premise is to bring out the demons that have posessed them and have them remove it themselves. Ava's demonic spirit is plaguing her with nightmarish visions and trying to regain control of her body so she has to work through therapy to try to shut it out for good. Part of her program is also to make amends with all the people she terrorized while she was under the influence. How intense would that be to come out of a demonic coma and try to pick up the pieces of your life. Just watching the scenes where she's going through her trashed apartment finding random objects and trying to collect her memories, it's actually a bit unnerving.

It's enjoyable to watch Ava follow the little trail of bread crumbs to figure out what happened and why it happened. Towards the beginning of the movie you definitely start to feel like it wasnt just the average evil spirit taking her body for a joy ride, but something more. Along her way to discover the truth of the situation she meets another girl dealing with posession in her therapy group, Hazel(Annabelle Dexter-Jones)who wants to break the rules of their group and try out some black magic. It's fun to take a behind the scenes of look of a posession victim, I think it was a really clever idea for a film. It may not be a completely new concept but I still give Jordan an A for great use of the idea. I would definitely add this movie to my collection! The humor they injected was on spot, but I wish there would have been more of it. Comedy and horror go together like bread and butter, I can never get enough of it!

The ending wraps up and you get the gist of what's going on but it still feels a little too subtle. Some movies run really smoothly and you're totally feeling them, then they try to use a typical cheesy scare at the end and it just cheapens the film. That's what lost me was the ending. All and all it was a decent film and I really loved the idea of it because I haven't seen anyone else try it yet. I would definitely check out future projects that Mr. Galland comes out with.

Here's a little more about Jordan Galland straight from the press kit: Jordan Galland(Writer/Director/Producer) AVA'S POSSESSIONS is Jordan Galland's third feature film as a writer/director. His first feature, ROSENCRANTZ &GUILDENSTERN ARE UNDEAD, premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2009 and was released theatrically by Indican Pictures.His second film, ALTER EGOS, premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival in 2012 and was released by Kevin Smith’s Smodcast label through Phase 4 Films in one of Phase 4’s highest-grossing releases of the year. He has also directed commercials and music videos. As a musician and songwriter, Galland has released several albums of his own and has collaborated on projects with Mark Ronson,Daniel Merriweather, Cibo Matto and Sean Lennon, and contributed music to films and TV shows like Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture and The Niestat Brothers’ HBO Original Series, as well an original score for the award winning Supporting Character Trailer below. Enjoy!