The Possession

A girl buys an odd little box at a yard sale that turns out to contain a dybbuk, a demon of Jewish folklore, who takes possession of her body, to the dismay of her divorced parents (Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick). Juliet Snowden and Stiles White’s script is supposedly inspired by a Los Angeles Times article. The article (“A jinx in a Box?” by Leslie Gornstein; July 25, 2004) is easily available online, and even a cursory reading shows the movie up for what it is—a stale and shameless rip-off of The Exorcist, into which director Ole Bornedal manages to inject not one whit of scares or suspense. Sedgwick stands out (or rather, sticks out) in a largely unknown cast. Did she lose a bet? Blackmailed? Need the money?