Five-Legged Iguana

¡Qué horror! 2014

Candidate #12

THE POSSESSION OF MICHAEL KING

(August 2014)

This is the world we live in today*: the only real found footage films** that should merit attention are those that A) prove to be something unprecedented within the genre, pushing the envelope, or tearing right through it, or B) are noteworthy examples of the genre’s “traditional” form.

The Possession of Michael King (from director David Jung) falls squarely in the latter category. It doesn’t have any ambitions of showing us anything particularly new. But, while it does colour within the lines, the hues and shades are decidedly of a rather dark and sinister persuasion, as compared to the bland palettes of the hordes of average run-of-the-mill found footage films out there.

The titular Michael King (Shane Johnson) makes a New Year’s resolution: he’s going to make a documentary about his family, to show the world just how lucky and blessed he is as a human being (even if, as he so pointedly admits very early on in the film, he doesn’t believe in God).

But tragedy strikes, and the documentary instead becomes one where Michael sets out to prove once and for all whether the supernatural exists.

Unfortunately, his grief fuels his brazenness, and he unthinkingly calls out far more than he bargained for…

Again, though this is not a found footage game changer in any way, shape, or form, there’s still some disturbing imagery in this one, and a notable performance by Johnson.

(Though you have to wonder why characters in these kinds of movies never seem to listen during the supernatural infodump early in the running time; if they did, they’d realize everything that would come in horrifyingly short order is all outlined right there…)

* The fact is, we've been living in it for quite awhile now.

** Please note that this also goes for zombies on film, whether on the big screen or small...

(The Possession of Michael King OS courtesy of impawards.com)