Movie Spotlight: Grace: The Possession

Grace: The Possession is a 2014 movie starring Alexia Fast, Lin Shaye, Alan Dale, Alexis Knapp, Brett Dier, Joel David Moore, and Clarke Peters.  The movie begins with a woman giving birth while a priest speaks of absolving her sins; cut to 18 years later, where we meet that woman's daughter, Grace (Alexia Fast), who is starting college despite the objections of the super-religious grandmother (Lin Shaye) who raised her.  The morning after she moves into her dorm, Grace wakes up with a strange mark on her stomach and starts seeing things that aren't there. After attending a party where Grace is sure that she pushed her roommate (Alexis Knapp) off the balcony to her death, she wakes up in the hospital and finds out that her emergency contact (her grandmother) is coming to get her. Her grandmother pulls her out of college and takes her home, and when Grace insists that she needs to see a doctor after embarrassing her grandmother by coughing up blood in church, sweet, caring Grandma tells Grace that she needs God, not a doctor (and that's when I started hoping that character would die).

I've watched a bunch of possession movies, but the thing that's cool and different about Grace: The Possession is that we actually see what's happening through Grace's eyes; I don't think I've ever seen a movie that's done that, but I'd like to see some more. This movie was better than many of the paranormal movies I've watched for this blog; all of the acting was great, and the ending made me hope for a sequel.

My rating: 7.5/10

Movie Spotlight: Ouija

Ouija is a 2014 movie starring Olivia Cooke, Ana Coto, Daren Kagasoff, Douglas Smith, Bianca A. Santos, Matthew Settle, Lin Shaye, and Shelley Hennig.  The movie begins with two young girls (Debbie and Laine) playing with a Ouija board; Debbie tells Laine the three rules of using a Ouija board:

1. Never play alone.
2. Never play in a graveyard.
3. Always say goodbye.

(I'll add a fourth rule: Don't use a Ouija board.)  Ouija then moves to present day, where teenage Debbie (Shelley Hennig) is playing with a Ouija board...alone. (It's the first rule, Debbie!) She says goodbye and throws the board in the fireplace. Her friend Laine (Olivia Cooke) stops by, and Debbie tells her that weird things have been happening since she started playing with the Ouija board again.  Debbie sits down to eat dinner, and a door opens behind her, followed by the stove turning on by itself.  She goes upstairs and finds the Ouija board on her bed and is shocked to see that it's in pristine condition.  When she looks through the planchette, a change comes over her eyes, then she hangs herself with a string of Christmas lights.  (That's why you never play with Ouija boards.) Laine later finds the Ouija board in Debbie's closet and decides to try to contact her...which, of course, is a bad idea.

Ouija wasn't very scary, but I liked it anyway, and it was definitely much better than The Ouija Experiment (which I reviewed for the blog a few weeks ago).  The acting was better than what you usually see in horror movies about high school students, and Olivia Cooke (who is wonderful on Bates Motel) was great as the movie's lead. The moral of this story: Don't use a Ouija board...ever!

My rating: 7/10




To find out more about Ouija boards, check out this blog post I wrote about creepy real-life experiences people have had with Ouija boards:

http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2013/12/beware-of-ouija-boards.html

Movie Spotlight: Insidious: Chapter 2

Insidious: Chapter 2 is a 2013 movie starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey, and  Lin Shaye, who all reprise their roles from 2011's Insidious.  After the events of Insidious, Josh (Patrick Wilson) and Renai (Rose Byrne) Lambert and their three children temporarily move in with Josh's mother Lorraine (Barbara Hershey).  Josh grew up in this home, and he used to see the spirit of an old woman who wanted to possess him.  Paranormal activity occurs almost immediately, and after Renai is attacked by the spirit of a lady in white, she wants to take the family out of the house, but Josh (who Renai suspects might be possessed) tells her just not to be afraid of the spirits (yeah, like that's an option...).  As Renai deals with things at home, Lorraine, wanting to find out why strange things are happening, enlists the help of paranormal investigators, and they find the answers at Our Lady of Angels hospital, where Lorraine used to work as a nurse.

I enjoyed Insidious: Part 2 and thought it was pretty creepy.  All of the actors were great, especially Patrick Wilson, who basically played two characters: Josh and possessed Josh.  My only complaint is that the movie ended on a cliffhanger, and Insidious: Chapter 3 isn't coming out until 2015...I don't want to wait that long!

My rating: 8/10

http://www.insidiousch2.com/