'Possession' loses grip on audience with feeble frights

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It's too early for a scary movie in theaters and The Possession is no exception to the rule.

If the studio held this until October, it would make a lot more money and audiences would be more inclined to see it.

Two poor business decisions will ultimately lead to this movie's death; the time of release and the rating change.

The Possession was originally rated R and then edited down to PG-13.

This is a pure business move on behalf of the studio to make more money at the theaters.

Unfortunately, changing the rating means most of the realistic scenes were cut from its core.

Have you ever seen a great PG-13 horror film about exorcisms and possessions?

No. It doesn't work.

Keep the R-rating and audiences will respect the final product more.

The R-rating is so important to these exorcism movies because it creates a realistic sense of fear.

With a PG-13 movie, real horror is thrown out the door.

Yes, there are films like The Ring and The Sixth Sense with PG-13 ratings that can provide great scares. But these movies have nothing to do with exorcisms.

Since the release of The Exorcist in 1973, there has not been a single film about exorcisms/possessions that can live up to its legacy.

Directors out there trying to make the next cult-classic horror film need to take a hard look in the mirror. It will never happen. That ship has sailed.

It's not about beating the classics, but creating films that have power and wit.

There is nothing realistic about a PG-13 exorcism movie.

The Possession director Ole Bornedal believes he's reinventing the horror genre with this new movie. I'm not buying this one bit.

"What we were trying to do with this one is to make it really real," said Bornedal.

The problem is it's not real; plain and simple.

Even if its marketing scheme is to play it off like The Possession is based on a true story, it's not.

The "true story" is a family bought a dibbuk box off eBay and then unexplainable events started to occur.

A dibbuk box is believe to carry the soul of a dead person.

According to the director, nobody in the real story was possessed by an evil spirit, like a young girl is in the new movie.

The "based on a true story" act, is a sad marketing tool to get more people interested in seeing it.

"The jumps and scares are going to be there. It's going to be a gradual burn until the end of this film. I think the ending is going to be super powerful. It should do its job," said Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

Audiences will not be scared by this... sorry.

If given a chance at its original R-rating, the director's vision may have been more clear, but the movie loses its grip on the audience with feeble frights.

Blame the rating change because The Possession is going to flop.

The Possession is rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving violence and disturbing sequences.

Runtime: 1 hour and 32 minutes.