Anonymous Andy (Minus_The_Beer) Beginning where most, if not all, exorcism-related horror movies end, "Ava's Possessions" travels the path less taken, chronicling its titular character's recovery from a brutal bout with a demon name Naphula. It's an interesting angle to take and director Jordan Galland makes considerable hay with the concept, even if some elements fall flat. But in a genre where possession is old-hat, it's rare to see a fresh and unique take on the material. If nothing else, this film is quite unlike anything you've ever seen before.With a style that owes considerably to Nicholas Winding Refn's retro-noir "Drive," "Ava's Possessions" works with a brilliant color palette, numerous cockeyed and crazy angles and a moody, atmospheric score by Sean Lennon. Galland is a relatively inexperienced director (his time spent in the entertainment business has been mostly musically related) but he shows a steady hand here, establishing a style that is familiar yet titillating. Even when certain threads of the film's plot don't quite hold together, the film is an audio/visual feast. Whether it's the gory make-up and effects or simply the pouring of an orange soda, "Ava" is quite a sight to behold. As far as little-seen horror films you stumble upon in Netflix's library in the middle of the night, you'd be hard-pressed to find something this colorful and unique.Where the film stumbles is in its overly complicated story. Clocking in at under 90 minutes, there's no reason for this film to be as cluttered with needless plot debris. While watching Louisa Krause find her way post-exorcism is compelling, we are constantly tripping over side characters who insist on telling us their story, too. Problem is, this is Ava's story and that story should be compelling enough on its own merits. After all, the film is essentially a metaphor for recovering from drug addiction, and that ambitious angle is never quite fully capitalized upon in favor of characters who, quite frankly, aren't really all that interesting. Sure, we are treated to veterans like Carol Kane and William Sadler, both of whom are solid in their roles, but comedic actors like Dan Fogler and Deborah Rush ("Strangers With Candy," represent!) are given so little to do with their talents, its a wonder they were even cast in the first place.Flaws aside, "Ava's Possessions" is still a nicely made, fresh and enjoyable take on a tired genre. It tries to break new ground and mostly succeeds. Genre fans will appreciate a new spin on familiar material, while bleary eyed late-night viewers will find themselves possessed by its aesthetics. Amidst all of your Netflix binging, this one should definitely not be purged.

tlatlatecolotl I dunno... this should have been a pretty great dark/quirky cult movie, along the lines of Repo Man and After Hours and others like it. The cast was great, the cinematography was appropriately oddball (so many Dutch angles! so much neon lighting!)... and that music, with all its funhouse-mirror doo-wop and moody rockabilly-ish twang, was ready for action.And yet, it just didn't go there, which is a real shame.Characters kept having these stilted awkward talky scenes where the whole thing just dragged. It's like someone with some influence felt this could be a horror trope parody, and someone else kept wanting it to be a lightly-creepy noir-ish thriller of the Lynchian variety, and yet someone else kept trying to keep things on track towards the kind of breathless, no-holds-barred screwball wackiness that should have been but never actually came to be.Anyway, it's kind of a mess as it is, and it sure seems that could have been avoided.

Kim Heniadis When I read the premise of this movie, I knew I had to see it. I thought the idea was so unique, and I personally don't know of any other movies that show what happens to a person after the spirit they are possessed by is exorcised. If you know of any, please let me know in the comments, because I would love to see them.The movie starts out with the typical scene of a girl tied to the bed, and the priest doing his thing. (My mind just went to a bad place when I typed that… maybe it's all the cold medicine I'm on.) Then a month has passed, and we see the aftermath of Ava's destroyed apartment, and her family physically pulls back from her when she approaches them. Ava's mom has a patch over her eye, and you just know it was Ava's fault.Ava's then talks to her lawyer, and he tells her that she has three options; go to prison for harming people and property damage, go to a crazy home, or go to SPA and get help so her demon doesn't come back. She chooses SPA, and we get to see how other people react to their lives after the spirit leaves their body.I will say I wish there were more scenes in the SPA group. I think a lot more character development could have been done here, and seeing how the different people were coping was very interesting, and in some cases, humorous. Although this is a horror movie, to my it was more of a mystery. Ava's family wants her to leave it all alone, and just get better, but she wants to find out why a demon possessed her. The mystery itself was done okay. For me the clues were laid out very quickly, and were not hard at all to figure out. The reason I'm giving it four stars instead of five, is all the unanswered questions at the end. But I would say to definitely give this one a watch.Major Spoilers Ahead.There are various ways that you can get possessed. They put forward the idea that it might be genetic, and another way is for someone other than yourself, to do a ritual and burn an object from your childhood that meant a lot to you.Ava has a creepy bear go missing before she's possessed, and she keeps having waking dreams of the burnt bear talking to her, trying to give her information. If someone did burn the bear, who was it? I'm thinking her sister, because towards the end, Ava sees a mark on her sister's neck. But if her sister did do it, why? They seemed to get along well, and there was never any motive given at to why she would want her sister possessed/out of the picture.Then Ava stumbles across a file towards the end of the movie, that pertains to her mom, hinting towards the genetic aspect. If this was the case, was Ava's sister possessed at one time too. But if so I would think the family would have realized it.

David Howell Cooky. Ava's Possession doesn't rely on jumpscares, or even really anything to scare you other than the odd bit of strange makeup. What does make this film a worth while watch is the performance from the main actress, coupled with the interesting, if not predictable, story.It's nothing bad on the film's part, and looking at the aftermath of a possession is certainly a new and interesting angle. The film seems low budget in it's sets/makeup/effects, but these are never overdone and don't seem out of place. Instead the low budget aspects seem to add to the film's overall charm.Glad I watched it as it was quite enjoyable. I'd see myself watching again at some point and recommending!