Recently, many successful horror movies have been emerging from the land down under, but one that still screams “Aussie horror” after two decades is the outback survival film inspired by a true story, Wolf Creek. The face of this movie is serial killer Mick Taylor, played terrifically by John Jarratt, who masters the creepy blend of a friendly outback bloke and a slimy, sadistic killer. Because of Wolf Creek, it is easy to conflate Jarratt with this xenophobic, violent Aussie redneck role, but in 2021, we got to a very different side to his acting range. Jarratt is the protagonist of The Possessed, turning into an Aussie-fied version of Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga) as his character, Jacob Chandler, is an “accidental exorcist.” Hilarious and absurd as that description sounds, it gives the supernatural exorcism genre a fresh, chilling update.
What Is ‘The Possessed’ About?
Like Wolf Creek and the various films about the Warrens, The Possessed is based on real accounts by an accidental exorcist called Mark Gardener, and it follows some of the early cases in his career. Director Chris Suntells Fangoria in an interview that he met with Gardener, who performed “clearings” rather than exorcisms (and Sun even got one himself), which is how he was dubbed “The Accidental Exorcist” by his friends. He would “clear” the possessed victim of the demon, take it into his own body, then send the demon back to hell by channeling it into the ground, all things we witness his fictional counterpart Jacob doing in the film. As such, The Possessed follows Jacob as he meets and clears patients through his wellness center alongside his nephew Liam (Lincoln Lewis) and Liam’s girlfriend Atalie (Lauren Grimson), who also sees demons, until he faces his most earth-shattering case yet.
John Jarratt Plays the Aussie Version of Ed and Lorraine Warren
Exorcists have traditionally come in the form of black-and-white-clad priests or somebody from church filled with wisdom and likely world-weariness. What you don’t expect is a Hawaiian-shirt-wearing, toothy-grinned old bloke who is always ready for a beer. He hits all the Aussie stereotypes just enough to be funny, but is grounded enough to be relatable, despite his supernatural occupation. While the comparison to Ed and Lorraine Warren isn’t immediately intuitive, he holds himself as humbly and confidently as they do, where the patient way he interacts with other characters and describes his profession is reminiscent of how the couple talk about themselves during the opening presentation in The Conjuring.
Jacob also has a variation of Lorraine’s gift of being able to see the dead, except he sees the demons he expunges from his patients. Like Lorraine, Jacob is constantly horrified by the twisted figures he witnesses, but is always determined to see the clearing through. In the same interview with Fangoria, Sun recalls how the character of Jacob was “completely alien to [Jarratt] ,” becoming one of his most demanding roles, especially during the raw screaming of sending demons to the ground. “It was always one long take, so he had to scream and yell for nearly two minutes straight,” Sun describes. “John was definitely frustrated, tired and worn down, but he was such a pro that he hopped up off the ground and did it one more time.” Jacob may not have the mystique of the Warrens, but between the languid Australian humor that reminds us of the “friendly” version of Mick Taylor and the intensity of tapping into paranormal scenes, Jarratt strikes a gripping balance in his performance that makes The Possessed absolutely worth the watch.
‘The Possessed’ Is Bold In Its Portrayal of Demonic Entities
While The Conjuring universe generally opts for the “less is more” route, where the demonic entity is usually an invisible, lingering force, The Possessed makes the interesting move of showcasing the physical manifestations of the demons from the get-go using practical effects and CGI. In horror, CGI usually gets a bad rap, but in this film, the boldness of depicting the demons actually works, adding to the straight-talking, languid Aussie atmosphere as well as the undercurrents of fear. During the clearings, the scenes often shift into darker, muted shots with a deep vignette that indicates we are looking at the world through Jacob’s POV. The physical demons become insidious counterparts to Jacob’s seemingly erratic and eccentric actions of using “jazz hands” to pull out the demon or trying to strangle thin air. In turn, Jarratt’s performance becomes even more chilling, as we are privy to both perspectives.
The Possessed truly is a striking addition to the horror genre, not only showing us a different side to Jarratt’s range, but re-defining what we have come to expect from exorcisms. Ed and Lorraine Warren had already shifted away from the priest formula, but they were still associated with the Church. Jacob’s average Joe demeanor takes this subversion a step further, as he really does come off as a regular old bloke who happens to perform clearings for a living, while still delivering a visceral tension that is innate in exorcisms. So, if you’ve ever wanted to see a truly Aussie version of an exorcism, where Jarratt turns into an accidental exorcist with jazz hands, The Possessed is a brilliantly fresh update to the genre.
- Release Date
-
October 29, 2021
- Runtime
-
97 minutes
- Director
-
Chris Sun
- Writers
-
Chris Sun
- Producers
-
Danny Baldwin, Sue Baldwin, Christine Hulsby, Mark Gardener, Kris Maric, Mitchell Clough, Lee Rushton
-
John Jarratt
Jacob Chandler
-
-
Lauren Grimson
Atalie Carlisle
-
