Normally, I don't love possession stories, but seeing this one enter the Top Ten in the USA on Netflix had me interested. And normally, I take it with a grain of salt when movies claim "Based on True Events." So I did my research. in 2014, a family moved into their new rental home in Gary, Indiana, and strange things plagued the family frequently and consistently.
More on that later.
Now this film was a decent scare. The Combination of mental illness, alcoholism, and paranormal chaos all combined into one fucked up premise.
Not only was this film well-produced, it was riveting and impressive (up until the end). A visceral, raw, and incredible performance all around. Not one person was poorly performed at all. They were believable and not one moment was I confused on where someone stood in the story. That being said, I felt the editing could have used some work. For a film that essentially went viral for some of the silly writing and editing towards the end of the piece, especially now seeing the entire context of the film leading up to that point, I can understand why everyone watched it and then subsequently shrugged their shoulders. The end was cheesy - enough said.
That being said, the complicated relationship Ebony has with all of her children and her mother is very believable. The chaos of a home entangled in demonic possession was juxtaposed with vulnerable moments of fear and loneliness. Who else would believe me? Who else would trust me after this? I get it. It's supposed to be a story people can relate to.
Usually my issue with possession-focused films is that they are so Jesus-is-the-Solution focused that I avoid them. Sure enough this one was no different, though it seemed more that a progressive Christianity was the solution this time, instead of the old "pure" traditional Catholic Priest.
Now, an aspect of this film I really liked was the look at what happens when mental illness and substance abuse and the paranormal are combined. Is it all in my head? Am I hearing things? I think what might be deeply unsettling about that to me is - are we the demons haunting our own homes? That might sound fake-deep, but it's real for many. And what I really really loved about this movie was the concept of overcoming your own trauma in order to come out on the other side better than before. Kill the demon in the house by not letting it eat. Don't feed it the self-doubt, self-hate, and fear it so desperately craves. Don't feed the addiction, and you will succeed.
The exorcism scene in the finale, however, was not my cup of tea. It came off silly, frankly, and I couldn't take it as seriously as I wanted to. It really spoiled the film. I lost my suspension of disbelief with Glen Close's demon, and Anthony B Jenkins (Andre, the little boy)'s demonic performance. Sadly, I believe that the vision was very well written, but poorly directed or edited in this case. Something about the over-scary faces made it less believable. That being said, the scene right at the end with just Andra Day (Ebony) and Jenkins (Andre) kind of redeemed the ending to me.
The scene that really brought it home was Andra Day facing herself as the Demon. Really facing the ugliness inside herself and acknowledging that vile demon in her own house. We get some scary ghost contortion and then she sees her life flash before her eyes, and then she is dead.
The Demon inside her has won.
We have a lovely moment of Ebony inside of herself talking to her mom, and then God.
Ebony is back with the strength of hope and is ready to kick some ass. And with confidence she re-affirms the truths she believes in, and Jesus is here to kick some demon-ass too. The demon inside of her and inside of her children is destroyed, flambé style.
"Go back to where you came from." - Ebony
So everyone is fine now and the movie ends, but where the fuck did this story even come from?
I gotchu.
After doing some sleuthing, it looks like the story comes from the Jackson family that lived in Indiana in 2014. Latoya Ammons experienced a bunch of bizarre shit, and long story short, there is record of one of the children climbing up the walls in a hospital and the house was bulldozed in 2016 because of all the scary shit that went down.
She and her kids are alive and well and weird things still happen around the property because people keep doing seances and demonic shit there, and keep waking up the demon that lives inside the house.
Check it out here.
See you next month.
-B
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