By MORGAN MUSCAT
Starring Clive Standen, Yeardley Smith and Mason Wells
Written and Directed by Brent Cote
One Tree Entertainment
The horror-thriller POSSESSIONS, directed and written by Brent Cote (Tainted), is a case study in exhausted genre stereotypes and by-the-numbers plotting. The film, which stars Clive Standen (from the TV series Vikings), Yeardley Smith (The Simpsons, Maximum Overdrive) and Mason Wells (2023’s The Wonder Years reboot), treads all-too-familiar territory and stumbles to deliver anything fresh or innovative out of its formula, resulting in a picture that lacks any engaging characters, a compelling script or even anything resembling genuine scares.
As an effort to start fresh after losing his wife, widowed father Pete (Standen) moves cross country with his young son Tyler (Wells) and purchase the Plaza Square Storage facility, the site of a mysterious death some time earlier. Hoping to realize his dream of owning a business, Pete thinks he’s hit the jackpot with a great deal on the property. However, something evil lurks behind the metal doors, and it’s far scarier than the owed payments from each of the units. While Pete grapples with sorting out the bills and delving into the storage facility’s darkened past, Tyler begins to explore the units and soon finds himself possessed by an entity of sorts, resulting in plenty of bizarre activity and sinister nightmares. Enter Dr. Young (Smith), a therapist who is determined to uncover the truth behind Tyler’s behavioral issues. Unfortunately for them, it may already be too late.
The concept of terror set against the backdrop of a storage facility isn’t a novel approach and has been the focus of countless genre films over the past fifteen years, including Lot 36 (2022), Self Storage (2013) and Storage 24 (2012), among others. One of the most frustrating concerns with POSSESSIONS is that it fails to hook in audiences with that same style concept, offering up an array of lame scare tactics and predictable jump scares, mostly all of which fall flat under Cote’s bland direction. The script itself relies far too heavily on horror techniques and gimmicks rather than delivering the goods with innovative twists or turns to keep things lively and engaging for audiences. Rather than embracing its ominous setting with stylish directorial choices and eerie ambiance, Cote plays it safe by delivering a forgettable excursion into dull territory where every plot revelation can be seen from a mile away and every scare generates more groans than shrieks.
From an acting standpoint, POSSESSIONS also disappoints with weak performances all around. Top-billed Standen is quite the competent actor, yet here his character is both lifeless and devoid of any real personality for viewers to relate to, merely plodding through each scenario that unfolds lethargically. It’s hard to feel sympathetic for a character when you don’t have an opportunity to truly correlate with them due to odd behaviors and inept choices. The same can be said about forgettable supporting turns from Yeardley and Wells, who plainly go through the paces here to collect a quick paycheck. Simply put, the characters are just as expendable as the discarded items found inside the storage lockers, so unfortunately there’s very little to connect with.
All in all, POSSESSIONS is an unremarkable and downright boring horror-thriller. Forget getting locked inside a storage facility that’s haunted; the scariest part of this film is getting locked in to 90 minutes of pure tedium and frazzled horror movie clichés.
POSSESSIONS is currently available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime.
