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The Possession Of Joel Delaney
[Legend Films]
1971; color
Directed by Waris Hussein
Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Perry King, Lisa Kohane, David Elliott, Miriam Colon & Barbara Trentham
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The Possession Of Joel Delaney pre-dates The Exorcist by two years (I mention that because it's often seen as the gold standard for possession movies), but where that film relied heavily on special effects TPOJD is almost devoid of anything of that sort and still manages to create an atmosphere of terror that's, in some ways, a lot more eerie. Perry King plays the title character (his second movie ever) alongside an initially really foxy looking Shirley MacLaine as his sister, Norah. The movie creates a really weird atmosphere right out of the gate as the two of them head to a party together where they behave more like they're dating than siblings. This slightly icky sexual undercurrent keeps cropping up during the film but it's about the least creepy thing that happens over the nearly two-hour run time. MacLaine plays an uptight, rich, mildly snooty Upper East Side New Yorker with two kids. (She's either separated or divorced; it's never explained which.) King, as we learn, has spent time in Algiers (which, I think, is supposed to represent some sort of drug-fueled, hippie-type excursion) and now lives in a little apartment in Spanish Harlem. He spends an awful lot of time with his sister and the kids - again, reinforcing the whole possibility-of-incest subplot. One night, Joel is supposed to come over for dinner. When he fails to show, Norah calls and then goes over to his apartment. As she's pulling up in a cab, she sees bro being dragged out screaming and thrown into a van by a bunch of cops. They tell her he's being sent to the hospital psych ward for observation because he tried to attack another man. Since Norah has only ever seen the sweet side of her brother, she refuses to believe he could do such a thing. Nonetheless she convinces Joel to admit to dropping acid, even though he hasn't done any, so he can get released from the looney ward and undergo psychological counseling. (Nice Pat Ast cameo, BTW.) He moves into Norah's house and things get really crazy from that point on. After a bizarre incident at a birthday party where Joel suddenly starts spouting rapid-fire, foul-mouthed Spanish at the maid. (Even though he can't speak Spanish.) Norah begins to take an interest in Joel's life up in the hood and gets her eyes opened in more ways than one. First, she goes to talk to Joel's girlfriend, only to find her beheaded. And who do you think the cops want to talk to? They relate to Norah that this case is very similar to a series of beheadings from a year or two ago but that the main suspect had dropped out of sight and the killings had stopped. Just by coincidence, that suspect - a 17 year old Puerto Rican boy - was Joel's good buddy. He even gave Joel his old apartment; the one he was dragged from kicking and screaming a la Ned Flanders. Somehow or another, Norah comes to believe Joel is possessed by the now-dead Puerto Rican boy's malevolent spirit. (Which he actually is, thus the movie's title.) As she gets drawn further and further into brother's world, she gets involved with a Santeria priest who agrees to help her. The ceremony at his apartment is key scene in the movie and way freakier and more realistic than Linda Blair's head spinning around could ever hope to be. As things get more and more out of control, and the kids get freaked out by Joel's increasingly scary outbursts, Norah takes them to their Long Island beach house, which is conveniently isolated but not isolated enough that Joel (who's now possessed full-time) can't get there and terrorize the shit out of everybody. The ending is doubly predictable as far as '70s film endings go. (Yes, the bad guy gets killed… but is it really over?) While it may drag in some spots this movie is worth seeking out.
—the Kommandant
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