The title is a play on words. The Last Possession is a movie which - in its beginning (after an unsettling opening scene which is very effective in establishing the mood of the film) - focuses on foreclosure as one young family is forced from one home into another. Except the house they wind up living in - due to its previous occupants’ suicide - provides no comfort to them. Cue the creaks! The slamming doors! The spooks! The specters! And . . . the earthquakes!??? Whoa, that’s new.
That’s right, True Believers, the haunting in this tightly wound thriller begins when a seismic shake rattles Kent Peroni (Stephen Brodie, Baphomet, Companion), his wife Stephanie (Cassie Shea Watson, Ghost Note, Feast II: Sloppy Seconds) and their kids, Jack (Sawyer Bell, Kill or Be Killed, Daylight’s End) and Gabby (Lourelle Jensen), from their new abode. They’d just moved in, too!
As if their world hasn’t already been turned upside down, you know? Foreclosure can be a bitch, especially when you don’t want to move into the home you have to. Too many ghosts of the past as the home is where Kent’s father took his own life. The earthquake; however, does more than just open a strange hole. Suddenly, the ghost of Kent’s abusive father, Roger (Tom Proctor, The Devil Below, Obsidian) is seen. It seems that even death can’t keep Roger from his grandchildren.
Uh-oh.
Something is lurking about and soon enough everyone is going to see it. With solid performances throughout and a spirited take on what begins as a familiar story, The Last Possession pulls off one head scratcher after another in its narrative, presenting the audience with a whole lot of ideas about the nature of what is happening within these walls. And you thought it would simply begin and end with a haunting?
Nope. Even the family is completely wrong about what it is skirting across the floor of their inherited home.
With a low budget restraint, The Last Possession does a couple of things correctly. First off, the atmospherics in this indie are quite unsettling, providing just enough lift to make it float in a sea of B-grade offerings instead of simply sinking into murky waters. That opening scene - in which a farmhouse becomes the scene of something horrendous - is proof of the skill at work here. The second is the story's focus on the family. Because the hauntings begin with the children, we have a bit of a build-up before the terror is unleashed while Kent, a research scientist, tries to explain away the supernatural events. No, man, these aren’t just childish fantasies echoing out from the past.
Thing is, he can’t explain the monster his family sees. Nor can he explain the presence of his dead father. Especially when all signs point toward the sky. Huh? That’s right, The Last Possession has its eyes on the skies while a house gets trashed and a family gets the wits scared out of them. Just who or what is possessing this house? And from where?!
Directed by Dan Riddle, written by Greg Shouse, and featuring Fear the Walking Dead’s Stephen Brodie and Bloodsucking Bastards’ Patricia Rae as Granny Inez, a psychic who is called in to cleanse the house of its evil, The Last Possession is a horror film which attempts to do something different with the genre, merging aliens, ghosts, and a whole lot of creep into a single storyline of terror.
The door to the otherworld is open! Experience the spine-chilling thrills of The Last Possession on March 4th from Terror Films.
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 87 mins
Director: Dan Riddle
Writer: Greg Shouse
Cast: Stephen Brodie; Cassie Shea Watson; Tom Proctor
Genre: Horror
Tagline: Science Can't Explain Everything.
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: Terror Films
Official Site:
Release Date: March 4, 2022
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: Out of options after a foreclosure, Kent Peroni is forced to move his wife, Stephanie, nine-year old son, Jack, and six-year-old daughter, Gabby into the home where his estranged father committed suicide years ago. Once there, the young family begins to notice strange events around the house, which become so terrifying they finally turn to a medium. Spirit guide, Granny Inez arrives, hoping to cleanse the home for Kent’s family, only to learn they’re horrifyingly wrong about the nature of the evil that surrounds them.
