Five-Legged Iguana

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2011
Candidate # 39

LA POSESIÓN DE EMMA EVANS
(EXORCISMUS: THE POSSESSION OF EMMA EVANS)
(October 2010)


There are just certain films that seem to break the mold, that are so well-made that, when they make their impact on movie history, can never really be equaled, much less topped, by those that attempt to follow in their celluloid footsteps.
One such film is William Friedkin’s The Exorcist. There’ve been many a possession/exorcism movie since then, and some have even been noteworthy, but none have come close to what Friedkin and company achieved on The Exorcist.
Given that reality though, Manuel Carballo’s La Posesión de Emma Evans (like The Last Exorcism before it) is still worth a look. Written by David Muñoz (co-writer of Guillermo del Toro’s El Espinazo del Diablo), this one takes a close look at how the possession of one member of a family impacts upon everyone else.
The possession itself is (again, like The Last Exorcist) very low key in its visual presentation; no 360 degree rotating heads, no pea soup projectile vomiting, not even the recently fashionable creepy Cirque du Soleil contortions.1 As I’ve mentioned, the film’s more concerned with examining the impact the diabolical goings-on have on the family in question.
It should also be noted that Doug Bradley is in this, in a small role as Father Ennis.


1 Which, let’s face it, have probably been inspired by the “Spider walk” sequence from The Exorcist, excised from the original theatrical version, but reinstated in the Director’s Cut.

(La Posesión de Emma Evans & Exorcismus OS’ courtesy of impawards.com.)