OCTOBER MOVIE CHALLENGE (10/24)

Challenge Totals to Date:

Movies Watched Today: 1 (but it's a doozey)

Total Movies Watched: 64
Total First Time Views: 17
Amount raised: $588.80

Today's showcased SCARE-A-THON Charity:

YOU CARING - AMY THE DOG'S TRAINING, sponsored by Dawn "Sam" Alden

To showcase your charity, send an email to drach101@gmail.com with your pledge amount and the charity's website!

64.

The Possession of Virginia (aka Satan’s Sabbath; The Devil is Among Us) (1972) d. Beaudin, Jean (Canada) 86 min

This pre-Cronenberg Cinepix horror effort offers no chills but plenty of unintentional laughter, embarrassing hairstyles and wardrobe choices, wildly inappropriate music cues, and WTF moments galore. Sadly, this doesn’t necessarily make it worthwhile viewing, as the brain-crushing tedium that transpires between the aforementioned episodes sucks all the momentum and joy out of the experience.

Paul, an acclaimed journalist, (Daniel Pilon) begins investigating the mysterious suicide of his friend, blowing up photographs a la David Hemmings, which lead him to suspect a strange little old lady (Rose-Rey Duzil) seen at the scene of being somehow involved. Unfortunately, his skullduggery arouses someone’s ire, as his cat is poisoned by a new carton of milk and his friend Louise (Daughters of Darkness’ Danielle Ouimet) is nearly done in by a glass of spiked Scotch.

Lured to a zany ’70s drug party by a co-worker, Paul meets up with renowned pianist Helene (Louise Marleau); the couple soon falls in love, or at least what passes for love between two somnambulist energy-sucks whose collective emotional arc runs the gamut from A to A. After Paul discovers Louise hanging dead in a church (after which her body mysteriously disappears when he brings the cops – via an ill-advised bottle through a store window), he SLOWLY comes to the conclusion that there’s a conspiracy afoot, one with sinister and potentially satanic intentions.

Considering the complex plot, with ample exploitation elements of sex, drugs, and murder, I can only assume that screenwriters John Dunning and Andre Link were less than thrilled at Beaudin’s decision to mute everyone’s reactions to the point of catatonia and to depict every mundane chore in Paul’s life in real time onscreen. The results are dull, dull, dull, confusing, and more dull, not a great recipe for satisfying horror.

I’m fortunate that fellow cinematic adventurer Jason Coffman was there to accompany me for this odyssey into the abyss, as I might not have made it through alone. Then again, he was the one who suggested it, so I think we’re even.