Most possession flicks end with the exorcism: a mostly triumphant banishing of the thing that’s been bumping in the night and swaying innocent girls away from Puritanical gender norms. (Are there possession films where the demons inhabit boys? Evil Dead and The Amityville Horror are all that come to mind for me, but let me know any I’m missing in the comments.) The Possession of Hannah Grace flips that, opening with the title character’s exorcism. Things go south. She drives one priest’s head through a spike and before she can kill a second, her father smothers her.
From there, our main character enters. Megan (Shay Mitchell) is an ex-cop fighting alcoholism and the traumata of her partner’s death. She’s taken on the night shift in the morgue to avoid drinking. The film follows the exorcism and the opening credits with Megan’s first day. Director Diederik Van Rooijen sets up a terrifying setting. The lights are on motion detectors. The alarm that signals the arrival of the freshly deceased is loud enough to scare Megan and the audience out of their collective seats. Best of all, Megan is going to be there alone. It’s a terrifying setup.
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Ryan C Bradley 