sligocait I buck the tide of negative opinions of this film. It is not as salacious as "The Exorcist", which was written based on this true incident from 1949 mid-west America, and because we've become so used to vivid violence in movies, perhaps this movie suffers for not making up the details or punching them up to be more shocking to viewers. At any rate, I found it to contain an excellent performance by Timothy Dalton in particular and by the entire cast in general. Casting a red-headed, freckled boy caused at least one reviewer to mock the choice for the possessed child, but I remind everyone that Linda Blair was a cute, sugary-sweet child in "The Exorcist" as well, so I don't agree that this boy was a bad choice. Something really happened to a young adolescent boy in 1949 that was seen by and chronicled by many; it's amazing to me that his true identity hasn't slipped out after 60 years, but how do we know that he was NOT a red-haired, freckled child? I found the movie to be interesting and believable. No, it is not the most graphic horror film I've ever seen but it doesn't have to be. All it needs to do is to tell it like it really was, not how some writer imagines it, and I think that it succeeded very well in that way.

sol (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?

Bill Youngblood (shobill) This Showtime original would just be a moderately budgetedExorcist variation, except - it is based on the original incident whichinspired The Exorist. (For this reason, it is incomprehensible tome why some people here are calling it an `Exorcist ripoff.") I foundit engrossing and entertaining, but I had some problems with thepremise. The film purports to be based on the only possessioncase in modern America, but in fact it changed the original story inmany key ways. The original event took place with a 14-year-oldboy in 1949; the film has an 11-year-old boy in the early 1960s.The date change gives the film an opportunity to talk about VaticanII-type changes taking place in the Catholic church, along withKennedy's election and the civil rights movement. These aremeant to spice up the movie but are mostly irrelevant to the themeand take away from the story. Dramatic horror-type events ensuethat we expect with possession movies, but now I'm left wonderingwhich events were mostly true to the event (in an afterword, one ofthe original attending priests did say a bottle of holy water wentsailing past him), and which ones were post-Exorcist inspired.Thus, while this story was supposed to inspire The Exorcist, wenow wonder who borrowed from whom. All this is saved rather nicely by an intriguing storyline, but inparticular, superb acting by the principals. Timothy Dalton playsFather William Bowden (which was the priest's actual name), thepriest-professor-exorcist: this, far more than James Bond, is histype of role. The boy `Robbie" is extremely well acted by youngJonathan Malen; he plays a more active demon-possessedyoungster than Linda Blair, who was admittedly more spooky, diddecades ago. Other notable performances include ChristopherPlummer as Archbishop Hume and Piper Laurie as Robbie's oldAunt Hanna. So I count myself among those who thought this aworthwhile film, especially knowing that it was at leastsemi-factual and leaves you pondering what possession really is,although I would have preferred the real story without theembellishments. This story reminds us how unfamliar the wholeconcept of possession was to Americans prior to the Exorcist. I'mgiving it an 8.

Theo Robertson **** MILD SPOILERS ****This is based on a true story is it ? If that`s the case then why does the opening caption read " Somewhere in France , All saints day , 1944 " Couldn`t the caption have given the exact location ? , or would that lead people to research the integrity of this true story ? Since reading about the truth in " true stories " like PAPILLON and SLEEPERS alarm bells always ring in my head when the words " true " and " story " appear side by side , and if the story is in fact true ask yourself this question : If the events on screen actually happened then why isn`t the case better known . I mean if chairs were running around putting the boot into teachers wouldn`t that be front page news .My second criticism is that I thought this was going to be a bit more light hearted . Of course as soon as the waffen SS turned up and got some bayonet practice in I realised this wasn`t going to be the case , but by then the damage had been done and I knew not to expect any intentional laughs POSSESSED isn`t of much interest except for one aspect - How things used to be . For example smoking wasn`t the social crime it is now , only white people were allowed to be catholics , commies existed and wanted to drop atomic bombs on the USA , young teenage boys could be looked after by priests without any suspicion and teenagers swearing was a certain sign that there were demonic forces at work . Ah the good old days NB : That last line was sarcasm before anyone complains