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The Familiar (2009)

DVD Cover (Celebrity Video Distribution)
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Overall Rating 32%
Overall Rating
Ranked #11,253
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The Familiar is a terrifying story of spiritual manipulation in the life of a lonely gunsmith named Sam. Through his estranged sister-in-law, Laura, who he has not seen since before the death of his wife five years earlier, Sam comes face to face with a very wicked spirit named Rallo. Sam's attraction to Laura blinds him to the fact that Rallo is taking possession of Laura and is intent on destroying them both. Sam must work through his bitterness and choose what he really believes as he battles for his soul and Laura's life. --IMDb
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Review by Crispy
Added: June 16, 2010
In my opinion, the two scariest subgenres of horror has always been ghost and possession movies. The incorporeal nature just adds something extra terrifying, because there's really nothing you can do to defend yourself against your attacker. It seems I'm not alone in this thought, as the movie often cited as the scariest movie of all time just so happens to be about demonic possession.

When Sam and Charlie were kids, they apparently had a habit of breaking into houses and reading porno mags. You know, standard teenage stuff. However, at one house they seemingly bit off more then they could chew, as the walls are covered with a strange symbol and they sense something evil in the darkness. Something that has followed them home and physically attacks them. Fast forward 25 years and Sam's life has, to put it mildly, absolutely fallen apart. After his wife died five years ago, he turned to whiskey and is now a complete alcoholic, spending his nights with a revolver against his temple, trying to muster up the strength to pull the trigger. On one such night, his late wife's much younger sister, Laura, suddenly appears at the door. Even though Sam hasn't seen her since long before his wife's death, he still considers her family, and invites her into his home. Slowly, her bubbly personality begins to cut through Sam's depression, and an undeniable sexual tension exists between the two. However, this is the least of his problems, as the very literal demon from Sam's childhood has taken advantage of Laura's trusting naivete.

When it comes to a movie about demons and possession, filmmakers will typically find themselves at opposite extremes on how they want to deal with their subject matter. It's either a balls to the wall affair that almost borders on the action genre, or much more commonly, a slow, incredibly subtle film that piles on question upon question as it approaches its climax. The interesting thing about The Familiar is that it actually takes the middle ground, which actually worked out very well. To be more specific, the scares are of the subtle variety ( The actual possession scene, and the conversation before it about whether spirits are mostly good or mostly evil are both extremely well shot, and will certainly leave the hairs on your neck standing on end), while the story is quite straightforward. Sure, there are a few aspects about Sam's past that are referenced but never explained until later, and Laura's true motives remain unconfirmed, but these are small potatoes considering how these films typically go. This definitely worked to the film's advantage, as it results in a film you can enjoy without having to pay attention to every little nuance to understand the grand revelation, but still provides some decent scares as the demon takes hold.

Something else I wasn't prepared for is how well our assembled actors did. Usually, in a low budget movie like this, we range from horrible to really horrible, but none of the main cast garnered too much complaint from me. Now, don't get me wrong, there were some definite hiccups here and there; Laura Spencer's line delivery was quite wooden at times, but considering this appears to be her very first film, I'll simply chalk it up to inexperience. Likewise, Bryan Massey went a bit over the top at times, but then, I'm not entirely sure about the character anyway. I understand Sam is a traumatized alcoholic, but a quick-to-anger grieving man is definitely a hard character to root for. Not quite a knock on the film, or even Massey for that matter, but it's definitely worth noting.

As much as I did enjoy the film, I did take some issue with the pacing. There are plenty of scenes that could definitely have been trimmed down to keep the film moving along. Perhaps the biggest example of this complaint is the subplot between Sam and his estranged father and Charlie's continued attempts to reconcile the two. While this does take a more significant role much later in the film, it simply feels like padding throughout the preceding eighty minutes or so. While that whole angle obviously shouldn't have been canned completely, this time would have been much better spent focused on Sam's conflicting feelings for his late wife and his relationship with Laura.

The Familiar is definitely worthy of a viewing. There are plenty of ways to botch up a possession movie, and Miles Hanon avoids most of them rather successfully. A damned nice way to kick off the man's career as a director. Definitely looking forward to his next project. 6.5/10.
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