The Possession of Hannah Grace

Starring: Shay Mitchell, Grey Damon, Kirby Johnson, Nick Thune, Louis Herthum, Stana Katic, Jacob Ming-Trent
Directed by Diederik Van Rooijen
Rating: R
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Drama
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An ex-cop (Shay Mitchell) starts a new job working the graveyard shift at a morgue. When a strange body comes in, unexplained events start to occur.

Review:

Tim: I actually had some decent hopes for The Possession of Hannah Grace. I didn't expect it to be a Hereditary or A Quiet Place-level horror film, but the idea of a demonic possession movie taking place in a morgue was a clever, original twist. The movie has a few decent moments, but ultimately, it feels too generic, too cliched to be very good. I didn't actively dislike the movie, but I was ultimately disappointed in it.

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the setting of this film. A morgue is an inherently creepy place as it's very close to death, and a wide variety of different deaths at that. I loved the idea of setting this demonic possession movie there. It also helps that the set was well designed. There's video cameras, automatic lights, etc. These little tweaks to the setting made a big difference in the final film. Although I never actually felt any sense of fright, I enjoyed the creepy atmosphere established here.

The cast was okay. I thought Shay Mitchell was decent in the lead role. I don't know much about her (it's possible I saw her in something previously, but it never registered). You can tell she put a lot into the role. She was mildly believable as an ex-cop and it was fun seeing her in this role. She projected strength and determination, but with a hint of vulnerability that made you care about her character. She might not have been great, but she worked fairly well. I appreciated the amount of effort she brought. I really like Grey Damon from "Aquarius", so it was fun to see him here. He doesn't have a whole lot to do, but his presence made the movie better. It was also good seeing Stana Katic here. It's a small, mostly unimportant role, but she does make the movie slightly better. The rest of the cast is average, about what you would expect from a smaller horror movie like this.

The visual effects are decent. There's nothing especially cool or memorable, but the visuals never detract from the film. A lot of lower budget tricks are used, but I appreciated that the film didn't overly rely on jump scares.

The story is fine- it adds some mystery elements to the horror and dramatic ones. I appreciated how the film did try and focus on its main character. A good deal of the film is spent on character development, which makes a huge difference- you grow to understand the main character and want her to live, to succeed and overcome her past. That's a big reason why I was able to tolerate some of the more cliched, generic aspects of the film- focus on character.

The Possession of Hannah Grace definitely showed some promise, but it never fully realizes it. There's too many moments that feel played out and lackluster. One of the most damning aspects of the film is while I was interested in the story and characters, I never felt even a hint of dread or fear as I watched the movie. It did a better job of creating a creepy atmosphere than actually throwing anything frightening up on screen. This ends up being an okay horror movie, but not one I regretted watching.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Hell Fest, The Exorcism of Emily Rose