A kid had to face the world in his own animated version and conquer life's biggest monster. ANI (The Harvest) It's as if a child's imagination is a safe haven, a place where the world is a playground for all the possibilities the mind could think of. And even the tight and humble space called home, situated on a busy Metro could not hinder the inquisitive headspace of a young Mithi (played by Zyren Dela Cruz), a boy who accomplishes the day by playing with his colorful toy robots that perform a vital role in his imaginary narrative. With a loving father and a mother that sings him a self-assuring lullaby, Mithi is blissfully unaware of the harsh reality. But life decided to toy with his fate, and Mithi's perfect little world is now showing its cracks, putting his vulnerability to the test and slowly depriving him of his happiness he thought would last forever. And through his eyes, the world suddenly transforms itself into a menacing monster. Set in a lush
Judging from its trailer, The Possession of Hannah Grace seems like a refreshing take on the exorcism genre, boasting its titular character Hannah Grace as she was possessed by a demonic entity, distorting her body on a lurid and horrifying maneuver.
Diederik van Rooijen, a dutch filmmaker and director of the film, told in an interview that his inspiration was pulled from his fondness of horror films, particularly Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and Steven Spielberg's Jaws. He wanted to capture the same essence of those films with his own flavor and modern twist to the famed genre, operating mostly on occasional jump scares and inventive nightmarish imagery, while delivering an interesting storyline that will get the audiences hooked.
The story follows Megan Reed (Shay Mitchell), an ex-cop and a rookie worker at a highly-advanced morgue, where she was introduced to its facilities and overall nitty-gritty of her newfound career. Previously known for her memorable roles as Emily Fields in Pretty Little Liars and as Peach Salinger in Netflix's You, Mitchell's performance proves that she's one of the impressive and expressive actress of her time.
The film then introduces the audience with its spooky but familiar world, as the camera moves along with the characters, making the audience see as if we are on Megan's shoes, suggesting a sense of claustrophobia, lulling our eyes with an eerie atmosphere accentuated by its dark hallways lit by an automatic but limiting strobe of lights.
From then on, the movie starts to feel drab and stiff, slowly drowning the film with cliche horror tropes, satisfying itself with its poor vision of terror and uninspiring flashes of the character's past predicaments. There wasn't any particularly remarkable about Rooijen's 2019 debut on the international scene, as almost everything in his film has been done already and arguably better than his. Story-wise, his bland narrative about a plucky lead with pressing past issues was not something engaging either. The other characters wasn't memorable either and also fell for the infamous thankless roles and glaring predictability of their demise.
Going forward, the film also unveiled one of the most horribly rendered CGI that doesn't mind itself looking like an early 2000 visual effect. Safe to say that the film's facade was nothing but a bland copycat, rotten to its core.
Let's Be Reel The Possession of Hannah Grace was a radical attempt at reinvigorating a tired genre. With all things considered, the actual movie itself was possessed by its own pretense.
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