AVA'S POSSESSIONS (2015)

Studio:       Entertainment One
Director:    Jordan Galland
Writer:       Jordan Galland
Producer:  Maren Olson, Carlos Velazquez, Jordan Galland, Douglas Weiser
Stars:     Louisa Krause, Whitney Able, Deborah Rush, William Sadler, Zachary Booth, Wass Stevens, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, John Ventimiglia, Jemima Kirke, Stella Schnabel, Dan Fogler, Carol Kane, Lou Taylor Pucci

Review Score:

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Summary:

After an exorcism expels her demon, a young woman joins an odd support group to piece together the mystery of what happened during her possession.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Father Merrino counsels Ava following the successful exorcism of a demon. Ava learns from her mother Joanna, father Bernard, sister Jillian, and Jillian’s fiancé Roger that she was possessed for 28 days.

Ava additionally learns from attorney J.J. Samson about the charges brought against her for crimes committed during the possession. In exchange for having the charges erased, Ava agrees to participate in a twelve-step program for possession survivors called Spirit Possession Anonymous.

Ava tries reconnecting with friends as she readjusts to a life of normalcy. As she continually experiences waking nightmares and strange visions, Ava finds a watch engraved with the name Conrad in her apartment and presumes it to be a clue that will help uncover exactly what happened during her possession.

Group leader Tony becomes upset with Ava when she shows up late for her first SPA meeting and without having read the preparatory manual as instructed. Tony tells Ava about the spirit steeper, an amulet that invites a possessing spirit to return to its host and that the victim must remove alone in order to have to mastery over the entity. Ava immerses herself in recovery, making amends with those she wronged during her possession and learning more about Naphula, the spirit who possessed her.

Ava collapses. While recovering at home, she hears whispers between her sister and future brother-in-law leading her to believe that the family is hiding a secret from her.

Ava eventually identifies the owner of the watch and returns it to Conrad’s son Ben Branson, who is co-owner of an art gallery. Ben and Ava gradually begin a romance.

Angry pimp Escobar threatens Ava for something that occurred during her possession, inadvertently leading Ava to a hooker named Noelle. With J.J.’s help, Ava find Noelle and learns that she and another man went to see Noelle while Ava was possessed.

Fellow SPA member Hazel convinces Ava to perform an incantation for her that will summon Hazel’s demon Abaddon, with whom Hazel has become enamored. Hazel takes Ava to an occult store where she meets the proprietor Talia before invoking the spell on Hazel’s behalf. During the ritual, Hazel becomes possessed and runs out into the night.

Ava finally admits the truth about Conrad’s watch to Ben. Hazel turns up in a hospital, unapologetic and still swooning over her latest experience with Abaddon.

Ava dons the spirit steeper at her next SPA meeting. However, Tony notices that a thaumaturgic symbol has appeared on Ava’s neck and he expels her from the group, claiming that the mark invites evil and he is no longer able to help her.

Noelle calls Ava with a clue. However, Ava finds Noelle murdered when she arrives to learn what Noelle knew. Escobar then assaults Ava, but Ben rescues her by pointing a gun at the pimp. Ben reveals that Conrad was a hitman, and if Ava was indeed mixed up with him, there must have been serious trouble.

Ava turns to J.J. for help, but he turns over Ava to her family. The family decides to commit Ava to the hospital and Roger volunteers to drive her to the facility. On the way, Ava learns that Roger was the john who was with Noelle when Ava was there. Fearing that Ava would reveal his infidelity and jeopardize his marriage, Roger hired Conrad to kill Ava, but Ava killed Conrad while possessed and the family helped cover it up.

Roger demands that Ava be repossessed because he fell in love with that incarnation of her. The two of them break into SPA and Ava dons the spirit steeper at gunpoint. Roger confesses to Noelle’s murder before Ava attacks him. Before she can kill Roger however, Ava manages to remove the spirit steeper and free herself from Naphula under her own power.

Tony apologizes to Ava in the aftermath and welcomes her back to SPA where she takes on an administrative role. While comforting her sister over Roger, Ava notices a thaumaturgic symbol on Jillian’s neck, indicating that Jillian is a practitioner of black magic. Ava later finds a file in the SPA archives revealing that her mother was also possessed by the same spirit as she and demonic possession is genetic in their family. Naphula suddenly arrives to confront Ava once more.

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Click here for Culture Crypt's interview with filmmaker Jordan Galland and star Louisa Krause.

Review:

Spirit Possession Anonymous is not your typical twelve-step recovery program.  Then again, Ava’s peculiar situation requires something beyond what an average support group might have to offer as far as overcoming inner demons is concerned.

For 28 days, Ava vomited pea soup and spouted Latin-laced curses when she wasn’t busy seducing a gal pal’s boyfriend or bashing a bystander’s head into an ATM.  She’s better now, thanks to a priestly exorcism, but the blood on her floor, unidentified watch in her couch cushions, and hushed whispers from shifty-eyed family members hint that Ava’s memory gap hides a darker secret.  With a little help from the similarly-afflicted weirdos in the folding chair circle at S.P.A., Ava is about to embark on a dreamlike journey of the Big Apple’s slightly stranger side, searching for the revelation of what really happened when an uninvited entity took her body for a joyride.

With a casual confidence towards the surreal streak in its style, “Ava’s Possessions” doesn’t blend genre conventions so much as it defies them, refusing to be easily classified as comedy, thriller, drama, or some measurable amalgam of all three.  The film rings bells including humor, heart, and horror, but only in unique tones providing cast and crew with permission to create their own random realm of quirky characters and mildly mind-melting atmosphere.  This is a sideways space where demonic possession is commonplace in an otherwise recognizable reality, yet actors refrain from mugging for the camera to overemphasize laughs or to make any suggestions about “Ava’s Possessions” being a satirical sendup or even serious suspense.  More important on the movie’s main menu is delivering a fantastic feast of sumptuous sight and sound.

Writer/director Jordan Galland weaves a weird mood that is subdued without being lethargic, pulsating without being peppy, and never in danger of overextending more effort than necessary to establish a distinct sense of cinematic storytelling.  Imagine shades of Wes Anderson with Dario Argento’s flair for visuals dunked deep in a thick bath of party gels.

Making those giallo-soaked colors drip is sharp production design evoking a mix of “Mad Men” chic with Adrian Correia’s even sharper cinematography of consistently canted angles keeping the camera as off-kilter as Ava’s world.  Sean Lennon’s memorably mesmeric musical score completes the illusion of a slow jazz step being the only appropriate beat for these martini-sipping hepcats in brick-walled lofts adorned with throwback tube televisions and rabbit ear antennas.

The deliberate drone in the rhythm and steadily downbeat drollness inherent in the movie’s DNA come with the consequence of being too mellow a taste for the hungry palates of hardcore horror or humor hounds.  “Ava’s Possessions” runs brief at just shy of 90 minutes, yet it only unfolds for those in tune to its unusual frequency, with a handful of hangups holding the story on simmer instead of on sizzle.

“Ava’s Possessions” brims with recognizable talent, although a number of names are underused in reduced roles.  Jemima Kirke of HBO’s “Girls” appears in only one scene.  John Ventimiglia of “The Sopranos” in just two.  Ditto Carol Kane.  William Sadler has slightly more screen time as Ava’s father, though anyone classifying his or any of the aforementioned appearances as cameos would have little trouble making a strong case for use of the term.

Several subplots, like Ava’s rapid romance with Lou Taylor Pucci or the mysterious mark on a certain person’s neck, are left in the lurch when the film speeds conveniently to a quick conclusion.  Having been previously paced so patiently, the “explain everything” exposition dump ending crashes forth suddenly enough to trigger an airbag, potentially bringing bewilderment to anyone anticipating a tightly-tied ribbon as an end credit accompaniment.

For all its choppiness as a smoothly-conceived narrative or a tightly-executed mystery, “Ava’s Possessions” supersedes problems of pacing through delightfully strange ambiance and a terrifically understated lead performance by Louisa Krause as Ava.  Funny without being straightly comic and nightmarish without being strictly frightening, “Ava’s Possessions” nevertheless brands its black magic mark using curious characters, vibrant visuals, and smartly stylish storytelling.

Review Score:  75

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