POSSESSION

Ghost House Picture

Directed by: Ole Bornedal

Starring by: Natasha Callis, Jeffry Dean Morgan, Madison Davenport, Kyra Sedgwick

First thing I’ve seen the tag line below the movie title, tickles my curiosity…Fear the Demon Who Doesn’t Fear God.  Wow, is such thing exist? I want to know who‘s the demon is…who is the creation who dare to disobey his creator? The curiosity drove me to the cinema and watched the movie…

Based on the true story…the story started by a teaser of an old lady who looks terrified by some old wooden box. There’s some weird noise come from that box and those lady try to destroy it by slamming the hammer on it. The effort made her thrown away inside the house and finally smashed her down to the floor.

The box then sold by the old lady’s son on a yard sale. The buyer, Emily, a daughter of divorce couple, Clyde and Stephanie Brenek opened the box then and she found some weird stuff in it, such as a teeth and the ring that made her interested to wears it. After that, she experience unnatural situation such as whispers in the night, an attack of a moth troops, and found out that there’s something inside her body when she saw a finger that trying to get out of her throat.

Not only Emily, the whole family sees the change on Emily. She became obsessive with the box and turn out to be sinister; stubbing her father, hitting her friend that try to stole the box, and she became anti-social. The box also killed Emily’s teacher who try to open the box by throwing her through the class window. The father, Clyde, who realized something wrong with her daughter, and it’s just not mental distress. He discussed it with Emily and he found out that the mysterious box that made all this happened.

After the demon get Emily with a full possessed that symbolize by a moth flies into her mouth, Clyde took the box to his friend, a professor who studied ancient history. From his friend, Clyde knows about Dybbuk. A jewish folklore about a box that used to trapped a broken spirit, a demon who refused by God, and the warning that Dybbuk must not be opened.

I’ve heard story about Dybbuk. It was a mysterious box that auctioned by eBay. The terms Dybbuk was first used by Kevin Mannis to give information about the box on the auction. Like Emily, who bought the box from the yard sale, Mannis also bought the box at an estate sale in 2003. It belonged to a German Holocaust survivor named Havela. From the box, he found many items that supposedly be used in Jewish folklore to exorcise demons. And not only Maniss, the other owner of the box proclaimed that they experience strange phenomena; like horrific nightmare, developed strange health problems, and strange smell of cat urine or jasmine flower.    

So, I understand the intent of the film that says this movie come from the true story…

But, until the film ends, I don’t see the parts which explained the ghost who doesn’t fear God. There was a scene where the ghost inside Emily throws the bible from Clyde hand, when he read it to cash the ghost out. But it something usual that ghost does when they’ve been read the scripture for exorcism. It not declares that it doesn’t fear God. So, I think the tagline it’s just a slogan to catch attention.

Its, okay because I’d like the final part when Brenek families become united again. Stephanie left her fiancée and gathered with Clyde and their two daughters. I always like part when divorce couples get along and reunited, like what happened with Jackson and Kate Curtis on 2012 movie. Maybe it’s true, maybe people need some hard turbulence or heavy moment to heal their broken relationship. And the reunited of Brenek seems more real because it’s based on a true story…

Surely, unlike the movie that killed Tzadok, the Jewish Rabii that helped Clyde to do exorcism activity to release the Dybbuk’s demon names Abyzou from Emily's body. There was no car accident on the real life. The Dybbuk box still keeps on somewhere safe. Hide on secret place by Jason Haxton, the last owner of the box.

Only one thing to remember, next time you go to a garage sale, courtyard sale, or something like that… just beware not to buy a weird wooden box. Perhaps, Haxton finally done to guard the box and try to divert it to another…and that…we don’t know…