The Possession (2012)

A girl on the cusp on puberty is possessed by a demonic spirit and spills familial terror as her soul goes dark and her body gyrates in inhuman forms. Familiar? “The Possession” is another spawn of diminishing returns and scene-for-scene re-dos from “Exorcist,” the demon queen of spiritual horror. Here, the girl (Natasha Calis) happens upon an antique wooden box with Hebrew engravings at a yard sale. It calls to her, quite literally. Daddy (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) quickly obliges daughter’s purchase as he wants to soothe her woes as he and mom (Kyra Sedgwick) sign divorce papers. (If the real horror on screen is divorce then it is badly, badly handled.) Emily is taken hold by the box and starts to splinter, distant, silent, and prone to stabbing dad with a fork. All this leads to a finale involving exorcism and a man of God, here a rabbi rather than a priest. (Jewish reggae star Matisyahu plays the role, oddly tone deaf.) Every scene here was done better in 1973, save one: Morgan as the desperate father begs a room full of religious elders for help. One old crow coldly replies, “It is up to God.” That’s chilling. The rest… C+