My Review Of "The Possession Of Michael King"

"The Possession Of Michael King" is a terrifying supernatural horror directed by David Jung. The film stars Shane Johnson as a professed atheist who decides to temp fate and disprove the supernatural by engaging in ritual acts of the occult. "The Possession Of Michael King" co-stars Ella Anderson, Cara Pifko, Tomas Arana, Luke Baines, and Dale Dickey. The story is dark, intense, emotional and frightening, for me personally it is one of the best demonic possession/occult horrors, and found footage horror films in the past several years.

Synopsis: Michael King (Shane Johnson), who doesn't believe in God or the Devil. Following the sudden death of his wife, Michael decides to make his next film about the search for the existence of the supernatural, making himself the center of the experiment - allowing demonologists, necromancers, and various practitioners of the occult to try the deepest and darkest spells and rituals they can find on him - in the hopes that when they fail, he'll once and for all have proof that religion, spiritualism, and the paranormal are nothing more than myth. But something does happen. An evil and horrifying force has taken over Michael King. And it will not let him go.

David Jung shows true methodical expertise in bringing this bit of demonic mayhem to the screen. I wasn't sure if I was going to like the movie, found footage is usually a question mark for me, but "The Possession Of Michael King" focuses on keeping plausible scenarios for making the use of video footage authentic to the situations. There is one moment when Michael King goes out into the streets at the command of the demonic entity that through a flag, but considering the depth of this horror story, and Jung's ability to keep focus on the main character at all times, that moment is fleeting. The cast give great performances, Michael King is the most visible and developed character and feels real, not contrived. Plus it is a bonus that he is hot and shirtless through most of his scenes.

The special effects are the expected, well explored concepts and tricks of the possession flick genre. The thing that makes it work in "The Possession Of Michael King" is Jung's choices in exploring the demonic subject matter through the various occult practices. The story doesn't just focus on someone possessed. We get to watch a skeptic, non-believer tease the supernatural realm through some very dark, and evil magics. We also get to see the guy become a scared believer steadily spiral into chaos and madness at the delight of the evil he conjures so all the shock gimmicks, paranormal camera tricks, and the gory-bloody effects are icing! The soundtrack, musical score is dark, chilling, and only adds to just how sinister and cruel this nightmare tale truly is. 

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed "The Possession Of Michael King". I thought that it stayed anchored in the evil of the subject matter and the horrors that the demon demanded that the film gets really scary and intense. Shane Johnson is likable, believable and entertaining on screen. The occult aspects of the story are so well developed and explored that it just amp's the horror aspects of the film. The found footage uses typical, redundant styles we have come to tolerate in horror films today, but they are so well crafted and executed that you really get pulled into the scenes. I don't often get really excited about found footage, and very few possession films seem to impress these days, (although I enjoy all-even the bad demonic possession/exorcism movies), but I can say that at the end of "The Possession Of Michael King" I felt revitalized, excited and kind of creeped out-which is awesome!