It is given that possession movies will be 1) about possession by a demon and 2) centered around the Catholic concepts of such. There will usually be an exorcism, or at least an attempt at one. So I was surprised to discover a movie that not only was released a year before The Exorcist, but which broke the rules the later film would establish for the genre.
1972’s The Possession of Joel Delaney has Perry King overtaken by the spirit of a serial killer who was his friend. This was King’s movie debut and he is shockingly young. He uses a recurring expression that, combined with his eyes, makes him look uncannily like Elijah Wood at times. Unfortunately, I found King about as believable as I would likely find Wood in this role, which is not at all.
Shirley MacLaine fares better as his sister. There is something a bit creepy between them, as suggested by an earlier scene where they are at a party together and some people there think they are a couple. Also, she seems jealous of his girlfriend.
So it isn’t surprising that one of the ways King starts seeming off is when he starts asking his sister questions about her sex life. She tries changing the subject by asking him about his recent time spent in Tangiers. He says he met a lot of women like her, and neither she nor myself, the humbler viewer, seemed to really know what he means by that.
Honestly, he seemed to be a bit off even before this, though we see very little of him before he becomes possessed. King seems awfully mousy and pasty to be living in the lower east side. One theme explored by the script is the social and economic divides of New York City, as she seems to never leave her house without wearing a fur coat, while he prefers to live among poor Puerto Ricans. She even asks him, “Why live down there with those people? We all know there’s poverty, but you don’t have to seek it out.” To which he replies, “I think you only see what you want to.” Her eyes are about to be seriously opened.
One night, she calls him at his place and all she hears on the other end of the line is primitive percussion that sounds remarkably like the beginning of “Magic Bus” by The Who. This causes her so much worry that she goes to his apartment, only to find him thrashing and screaming as the police drag him away. It turns out he had tried to kill his landlord, and she’s baffled as to why he would do that. I mean, who ever wanted to kill their landlord? *cough*
There’s a great scene where MacLaine tries to throw her weight around the police station. While she gets her first glimpses of how the other 99% live, her prominent surgeon ex-husband does manage to pull some strings and get her brother transferred to a psychiatric ward.
It is interesting to watch MacLaine as she struggles to understand her brother’s sudden issues, an investigation which will introduce her to a community and culture she doesn’t understand. Alas, I don’t think she made much of an effort to get more involved.
One such moment is an exorcism ritual that is of a religion I did not recognize. At least, I’m certain it isn’t traditional Catholicism, and that was interesting. The ritual is done to music playing on a record and I kept wondering what would happen if the ceremony required more time than the length of that side of the disc. That alone shows I probably would handle this ceremony as poorly as she does. As the frustrated priest tells her: “People like yourself, you try to buy God and your mind is closed.”
MacLaine needs to find something to resolve King’s issues, as he is becoming increasingly unstable. He also has started speaking in fluent Spanish, a language he allegedly did not know previously. To be more specific, King talks in dubbed Spanish that doesn’t match his lip movements very well. Oh, and his girlfriend has been found dead, with her head suspended from the ceiling over the rest of her body.
The crime scene is similar to those of three deaths in Spanish Harlem the previous year. It is widely believed those were committed by one Tonio Perez, who happened to be King’s best friend. According to Tonio’s mother, her son is now dead.
To summarize: we have a person possessed by something other than a demon, and the rituals of an obscure religion are used to try to exorcise that spirit. That is an interesting idea, one that might have improved any of the subpar possession movies in the decades following The Exorcist.
Unfortunately, the movie drags out everything waaay too long. It doesn’t help that it seems to also believe it is such an important film. Worst of all is King’s performance, which is never terrible, but which is also never believable. The climax of the film has him jeopardizing MacLaine and her children. He does some appalling things, but I didn’t buy him as an intimidating presence, so the scene falls flat.
The Possession of Joel Delaney is interesting in that it somehow subverts cliches that had yet to be established. I was also intrigued by the culture shock experienced by MacLaine. Unfortunately, this slightly pretentious film overstays its welcome.
Dir: Waris Hussein (fun fact: the director of the first episodes of Doctor Who!)
Starring Shirley MacLaine, Perry King
Watched on Imprint blu-ray