Possessed (1999)

'Besat' has (horror film) atmosphere in spades. The lighting is beautiful (= eerie) and makes the film stand out. The story may be riddled with clichés about the devil and the end of times, still it has a way to it, that I could call Scandinavian, though it may be better described as nót Hollywoodian; for instance, the fact that the main character is willing to do pretty much anything to further his career (up to the point where he digs up the corpse of a boy for a spinal tap, even if we, the viewers, know that the fate of the world is at stake as well). It helps creating a gritty world, full of true to life characters, even if some ingredients are rooted in the supernatural. The love story between the main character, a professor, and his student, is well interwoven with the plot of satanic mayhem. Yes, this is a little late-'90s horror gem.A big 8 out of 10.

Unless I'm overlooking some titles, "Possessed" is only the third Danish horror film I've seen in my life and, speaking purely in terms of quality and entertainment value, it neatly ranks between the other two. "Possessed", written and directed by Anders Rønnow Klarlund, is not as dazzlingly terrific as Ole Bornedal's superior serial-killer thriller "Nattevagten", but it's undoubtedly numerous times better than that Danish attempt at making a slasher movie, entitled "Mørekeleg". But the comparison between these three films already stops with the country of origin, as the substance of Klarlund's films covers entirely different – and far more ambitious – themes. The most praising thing I can say about "Possessed" is that it has a solid and intelligent (albeit slow-moving) script, even though you only come to fully realize this quite late in the film. For more than an hour of playtime, you appear to be following two entirely separate story lines and it's practically impossible to link the events together. After the death of a Romanian man in a Danish hospital, the overzealous virologist Søren and his student-girlfriend Sarah travel to Romania; hoping to find out more about the origin of the deadly disease. Meanwhile, the oddly behaving priest/doctor Vincent Monreau stalks the people with whom the Romanian had contact before he died, as if he intends to prevent the virus from spreading even before these people suffer from any symptoms. It's really too bad that most plot summaries and even the film's own DVD cover image (showing a pentagram) already reveal a reasonably important piece of the story's main twist. Most reviewers describe "Possessed" as a mixture between medical thriller and occult horror, but truthfully it isn't, since the medical theories promptly vanish when the occult stuff is hinted at. The twist – if you can even call it that – is profound and extremely intelligent, in my humble opinion. It's creepy and convincing although incredibly far-fetched and, even more importantly, every tiniest detail that looked confusing and senseless at first now suddenly fits with the wholesome of the picture. Just because Klarlund's script is so extremely careful with revealing information and clues during the first hour, "Possessed" occasionally feels a little dull and distant. Some sequences, like the ones shot on location in Romania, come across as redundant padding footage. The last half, however, instantly makes you forget all the tiny little flaws and defects and particularly the climax is nail-bitingly suspenseful (and very Anti-Hollywood, I may add). Obviously I'm not too familiar with the Danish cast members, but the film definitely benefices from the presence of horror veteran and cult icon Udo Kier as the crazed occultist. What an awesome performer that guy is!

This is another horror movie in the Danish tradition, as I like to put it: Good cast, good plot and in my opinion quite an original twist to the classic possessed-by-the-devil plot. Also a hint of drama, with well-written dialogue and interesting inter-character relations and intrigues.If it runs on TV, see it by all means! Some chilly moments, that's for sure.7 out of 10.

With a plot that seems to have been heavily inspired by productions such as Warlock (1989), Outbreak (1995) and "Riget" (1994), this movie uses the Danish medical community as exemplified by the National Hospital to build an instant atmosphere of impending doom.Unlike "Riget", which featured a plot that ended up in a Twin Peaks-like parody of surrealism, the focus in this movie is not on the medical community itself, but on the investigation by a young doctor of the mystical spread of a strange new virus.In parallel with this activity we have the police pursuing a man suspected of arson (impressingly performed by Udo Kier).The two threads end up colliding in a way that will not be revealed here.The movie contains some interesting scenes from Romania, where the young doctor tries to collect a marrow sample to analyse the virus. These scenes are quite important in building the atmosphere so important for a thriller, and they are executed nicely.Basically, all horror movies reiterate the same old message of "how terrible it is, when you're powerless." The interesting new part is usually the way in which ingredients are mixed, conveying a story full of scares, to which the contemporary viewer can relate."Besat" is no exception from this rule: As a true child of it's time, the dominant themes used in this movie are the threat of a global epidemic, cultic prophecies of apocalypse, the horrible living conditions of the poor in Eastern Europe, and how a man's single-minded pursuit of his career can turn him into a monster.All in all some good, well-executed entertainment, but don't expect to find anything new here.