The Possession of Michael King.
The Possession of Michael King is a 2014 found footage(ish) horror movie based around a man who is an atheist. The movie is directed by first time director David Jung who also wrote the film. The man, Michael King, is a recent widower and now single father to his young daughter. As stated earlier, King is an atheist and pretty much challengers either the Devil and his demons or God and his angels to prove they exist and take ahold of him. What ensues is a story in which at times you think he's actually possessed and at other times that it's all in his head and he's going insane; the movie keeps this debate going for quite a while and it's for the better.
Acting: The movie consists mainly of Shane Johnson portraying Michael King; Johnson, an unknown with mostly TV and extra work to his credit is given the helms to carry this movie as his character is alone for a good chunk of the movie. All other characters play small roles with maybe 15 minutes of screen time. Shane Johnson plays this role beautifully, this movie would fall flat on it's face if he couldn't hold his own but thankfully he does. It's not an Oscar-worthy performance but it's a better performance than I've seen in most nationally released horror films, especially in the last few years. I don't know if there's a horror award show but he deserves some type of award for this because he kills it, especially for a newcomer. Everyone else does well but honestly most of their characters aren't in it enough to make or break the movie.
But Is It Scary? Short answer: yes. This movie is scary definitely but it's more of a creepy type of horror. The film doesn't rely on jump scares which is rather refreshing in the horror era we're in. It has a good amount of visuals that stick in your head far after the end of the movie. Scariest movie of the year? Probably not. But it's definitely scary.
Is There Anything I Haven't Seen Before?: Short answer: kinda. The last decade of horror films has been riddled with possession stories and truthfully it's getting old. We've also seen 800(not an actual figure) "found footage" movies since the first Paranormal Activity came out back in 2007. This film separates itself from the pack by first making it more of a documentary style movie instead of a true found footage movie which is a nice change. Secondly, and most importantly, the movie tells the possession story from the viewpoint of the person being possessed instead of the people around him. This becomes incredibly interesting once the possession-like symptoms begin because it really makes you think whether or not it's real. It's a shame this movie wasn't released nationwide but it's currently on most video-on-demand services and to buy on DVD, if you don't want to commit to a physical copy I highly recommend renting it on demand as it's one of the most worthwhile horror movies of the year.
Overall: A great horror movie that any horror fan should enjoy that has enough story to entice horror detractors. You might have to go somewhat out of your way to actually find the film but I promise you it's well worth it. I was intrigued until the very end and couldn't keep my eyes off the screen or from guessing what was coming next and sometimes actually being wrong. Definitely best viewed at a loud volume in a dark room, for full effect of course.
Rating: 4/5, By far one of my favorite horror movies of the year that could very sneak into my top 10 films of 2014 depending on how Oscar season goes. Regardless of Oscar season I can't see this movie not being in my top 3 horror movies of the year, trust me, it's that good. Instead of going to see Annabelle this weekend, spend $5 on video-on-demand and watch this movie, I can assure you it's much better.
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