Put the kiddies to bed, this Claymation movie isn’t for the little tykes. Put the grandparents to bed while you’re at it because it might make them spit out their dentures. In fact, put everyone to bed who doesn’t have a disturbingly morbid sense of humor refined from years of consuming horror films. That’s the ticket. Director Sam Ortí Martí’s Possessed is a wild and demented ride with heaps of gruesome deaths that never lets up for a moment. From its swashbuckling prologue to its hellish finale, Possessed is an inventively sadistic blast.
The film follows a rambunctious youth named Damien, the spawn of a renowned flamenco dancer and celebrated bullfighter. After his father dies in a freak accident, Damien begins exhibiting some disturbing behavioral problems. He frequently blacks out and foams at the mouth (which looks wicked cool in Claymation). During these black outs, very bad things happen to those around him. Despite the help of doctors, Damien’s condition only worsens and soon it’s apparent a devil is having its way with him.
At wit’s end, his mother calls in a defrocked, drunkard priest to perform an exorcism on poor Damien. Along the way, an old lady’s spine is ripped out, some obnoxious talk show guests get horribly mutilated, and a lot of red clay is spilled. The horror homages come swift and silly – nods to Hellraiser, The Omen, Poltergeist, and, of course, The Exorcist abound. All these nods feel organic to the story and never come across like the filmmakers are just pandering to the fans. It’s easy to tell they’re huge fans of the genre too and that love oozes out of every painstakingly sculpted frame.
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The animation in Possessed is fantastic and seamlessly mixes playfulness and gore. In a few shots you can see hints of thumbprints animators left behind, but that’s part of the charm. Alongside the remarkable stopmotion is the voice work, which features Santiago Segura (Day of the Beast), Alex Angulo (Pan’s Labyrinth), and genre favorite Nacho Vigalondo. A few of the characters speak in this screeching, shrill voice that’s just as funny as some of the gags. Like they’re doing an impersonation of someone they hate in real life. It’s hilarious.
Goya-nominated animator Sam Ortí Martí has crafted an uninhibited homage to the horror genre with Possessed. More than just homage, the film takes some interesting turns of its own and does manage to pack in a little heartfelt emotion along the way. You know what? Forget what I said earlier about putting the kids and grannie to bed. Wake their asses up. They should see this.
The film just had its North American premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival and will hopefully come stateside soon.
