The first trailer forThe Possession of Hannah Graceis here. We only recently learned that this movie even exists and, somewhat surprisingly, it’s being released by Sony at the end of next month. The studio released afirst-look poster for Hannah Graceat the end of last week and, as promised, they’ve delivered the first footage from what looks to be a kind of fresh take on the exorcism subgenre of horror. Will that relative originality amount to a good movie? That remains to be seen, but there are some red flags here.
The trailer kicks off with the “new girl” boarding a mysteriously unappealing job that she’s seemingly happy to take. Who wouldn’t want to jump on board a gig that involveshanging out with cadaversall night? The footage also sets up that our lead has something of a troubled past. Things get a little iffy when a character who might as well be named Mr. Exposition drops off the titular character’s body at the morgue. From there it’s lots of vaguely creepy jump cuts and, right at the end, we get an extended look at a couple of the movie’s big scary moments.
Setting aside the highly expository dialogue and the very out-of-the-can scares showcased in the trailer, this movie does appear to be trying something a bit different. Originally going under the titleCadaver(which might have been a better title), the movie centers on anexorcismthat doesn’t go in any way according to plan, resulting in the death of a young girl who winds up at a morgue. Yet, as the tagline boasts, “death is just the beginning” and this new employee at the morgue winds up dealing with an undead exorcist victim who looks to be rather vengeful and disturbing.
There have been many takes on the exorcism genre over the years, most famously inThe Exorcist. There’s also the underrated The Exorcist III,which also takes place in a hospitaland, for those who haven’t seen it, features quite possibly one of the best jump scares in history. Other examples includeThe Exorcism of Emily Rose,The Devil InsideandThe Conjuring. The list goes on. Point being, it’s tough to do anything even remotely original within this sector of the horror world. But original doesn’t always mean good.
Let us not forget that Sony was behindSlender Manearlier this year, whichwas a total and complete mess. It’s also a bit of a red flag that this trailer is only now dropping and the movie is set to be released on November 30. But who knows? Diederik Van Rooijen directs with a cast that includes Shay Mitchell (Pretty Little Liars), Grey Damon (Oldboy), Kirby Johnson (5150) and Stana Katic (Castle). Be sure to check out the first trailer forThe Possession of Hannah Gracefrom the Sony Pictures Entertainment YouTube channel for yourself below.
