Product Details

• Actors: Timothy Dalton, Henry Czerny, Jonathan Malen, Michael Rhoades, Shannon Lawson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Showtime Ent.
• DVD Release Date: October 2, 2001
• Run Time: 111 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005MM5Q
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90,039 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Possessed" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

POSSESSED - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than expected tale of demonic possession, November 4, 2002

By 

F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Possessed (DVD)

Possessed is based on the same book which inspired William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist and the classic Friedkin movie .It is not a classic ,unlike the Friedkin movie ,but it struck me as a notch or two above the usual TV movie treatment of supernatural themes.
Timothy Dalton plays the war veteran priest,a man who bears both physical and emotional scars from his world war 2 experiences in the Ardennes,and who is called upon to do battle with Satan for the soul of a possessed boy,Robbie.He does so in the face of official scepticism from the Archbishop -played with silky insouciance by the always reliable Christopher Plummer-a man more obsessed by the political (Conservative)role of the Church than by matters spiritual.
The exorcism scenes are a tad below the emotional intensity of similar scenes in The Exorcist but do carry a frisson or two and the movie is decently acted and directed.I was struck by the links made between the possession of the boy and the political climate of the time with the paranoia of McCarthyism being explicitly invoked in one brief scene.The movie takes place against the rise of the Civil Rights movement and we glimpse the beginnings of television evangelism and the concern of the Church with Nielsen ratings and image.If the truth conflicts with image ,bury the truth-or so runs the official line as seen in the movie
It wont replace The Exorcist or The Omen in the pantheon of classic possession movies but its sturdy second string material and engages interest throughout.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE REAL DEAL!, January 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Possessed [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A scrupulously faithful dramatization of Thomas B. Allen's outstanding book!

As a Catholic familiar with the St. Louis exorcism, I deeply appreciated the honesty and integrity of this film and the fact that it eschewed the histrionics and inaccuracies of William Friedkin's The Exorcist.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating case, terrible movie, November 7, 2008

By 

Robin Solsjö Höglund (Skellefteå, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Possessed (DVD)

In this Showtime TV-movie, based upon a supposed real case of exorcism, Timothy Dalton plays a priest who becomes drawn into a situation with a young boy supposedly possessed.

The performances are stone serious or absurdly childish, there is no suspense to be found in the writing, effects or production design, and it left me disappointed that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't take the film seriously. It isn't delivered in a believable way, and becomes lost in mediocrity.

I can't recommend the film, but I can somewhat recommend the book, which is at least a somewhat interesting, if not all too convincing read.