At its most basic, possession horror exploits the primal fear of losing control over your own person, usually due to a demonic entity. Victims in a possession movie are rendered mere passengers in their bodies as a sinister force takes over and destroys them from the inside. That potent combination of body horror and a complete lack of free will makes for inherently terrifying and fertile ground for exploration. While possession horror is often tied to biblical battles of good versus evil, that’s not always the case.
This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to demonic possession horror titles that leave conventional depictions of faith and exorcisms behind for new terrain and metaphors.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Demon Wind – AMC+, Shudder, Tubi
Possession horror tends to take the possession seriously, opting for full-throttle scares and intense emotional or faith-related stakes. Demon Wind offers the silly antidote to super serious possession horror. The setup is simple enough; Cory assembles a group of friends to help him investigate the mysterious deaths of his grandparents sixty years ago. The execution, however, defies logic in the conventional sense as Demon Wind takes a kitchen-sink approach to possession horror and frequently embraces the absurd. Martial arts, demonic mayhem, time travel, and an uncredited Lou Diamond Phillips cameo as a demon make it impossible to be bored.
Jennifer’s Body – Max
Hell is a teenage girl. If ever there was a well-rounded coming-of-age horror movie that tried to encapsulate the teen girl experience, it’s Jennifer’s Body. When Jennifer becomes possessed by a man-eating demon in a sacrifice gone wrong, her best friend Needy must learn to step out of Jennifer’s shadow if she hopes to stop her. Toxic friendships, self-discovery, the heartbreak of first loves and first traumas, and more are explored in this bitingly hilarious horror-comedy.
The Shrine – AMC+, Tubi
After the disappearance of a backpacker, a journalist traces it back to a small village in Poland and enlists two friends to come along on her quest for answers. They’re met with hostile locals, which forces the journalist to try to circumvent them. It results in the trio becoming the next target of ritualistic human sacrifice among the villagers. There’s much more than meets the eye to this standard setup, though. The Shrine merges folk horror with another tried and true subgenre: possession horror. A brisk pace and some subverted tropes combined with a few potent scares make for a fun watch.
The Taking of Deborah Logan – AMC+, Prime Video, SCREAMBOX, Tubi, Vudu
For her Ph.D. thesis on Alzheimer’s disease, Mia Medina (Michelle Ang) thinks she’s found the perfect subject in Deborah Logan (Jill Larson) for a documentary. In desperate need of the money, Deborah’s daughter Sarah (Anne Ramsey) allows Mia and her team to set up cameras in their home to record and study Deborah over the next several months. As the days progress, it quickly becomes apparent that there might be something more sinister at play than Deborah’s illness. Co-written by Gavin Heffernan and director Adam Robitel, this found-footage gem knows how to craft effective scares. It’s incredibly creepy, oozing with atmosphere for days. This pick is for those in the mood for major chills.
When Evil Lurks – AMC+, Shudder
Courtesy of Shudder. A Shudder Release.
Writer/Director Demián Rugna broke onto the horror scene with 2017’s aptly titled Terrified (Aterrados), a paranormal tour de force of shocking imagery and genuine scares. Rugna continues that streak with his latest, When Evil Lurks, which includes the central theme of infectious evil. This time, however, the Argentinian filmmaker shifts gears to take on possession horror, and he’s unafraid to spill buckets of blood and offer up jaw-dropping violence. Go in blind on this possession horror, and brace yourself for a gnarly ride ahead.
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