The Possession Of Joel Delaney (1971/Legend Films DVD)
Picture: C+ Sound: C Extras: D Film: B-
Before The Exorcist and in the middle of a
great new cycle of Horror films, demonic possession was always a staple of the
genre, if not always done well or respected until around this time. Because of the success of Rosemary’s Baby, Paramount was willing
to try another high profile genre film and The
Possession Of Joel Delaney (1971) was the underrated result. Director Waris Hussein had recently helmed
the underrated Gene Wilder/Margot Kidder comedy/drama Quackser Fortune a few years before and the result is a decent
thriller.
Shirley
MacLaine is Norah, a happy woman with a good family life and one always working
to better it. She also has a brother (Perry King) who she cares about, but
after we get to know him as himself, we suddenly start to see a personality
change. Then, as a series of bizarre
serial killer-like murders start to surface, he starts talking in Spanish. He never studied Spanish!
Then, he
starts acting odd in other ways. Norah
senses something odd, but little does she know what lies ahead and when she
finally catches on to how serious things have become, her whole family is in
jeopardy. Note this is a hard R-rated
film and can get very graphic.
The
acting is good, though some of King’s later performance seems like a dry run
for Al Pacino in De Palma’s Scarface
remake, not helped by not knowing enough about the possessor from the
otherworld. That would help explain why
the spirit is so prone to murder, yet his tough-guy past and the demonic angle
are never totally fused in a convincing way.
However, this is dark, suspenseful and disturbing enough to work enough
to revisit it.
Irene
Kamp (Don Siegel’s The Beguiled) and
Matt Robinson (who eventually move on to a very successful TV career) adapted
Ramona (Desert Fury) Stewart’s novel
of the same name. The ambitions of the
film help keep it chilling and though some of it plays like a time capsule of
the time, it is a must-see for any serious Horror fan and MacLaine gives one of
the most interesting performances of her career.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is not bad for its age, the elements are
in decent shape, but this is still a little softer than one would like and
though color can be consistent, depth is also compromised. Prints were likely originally three-strip
dye-transfer Technicolor, while the film is the single Director of Photography
credit to date of enduring camera operator Lou Barila, who did both here, but
shared the DP lensing duties with Arthur J. Ornitz of The Anderson Tapes and Serpico. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is a little more
compressed than one would like, but is audible, though Joe Raposo’s score is
good and deserves better. It is not bad
considering too considering he was best-known for key children’s TV music and
comedy music, but would also score Robert Altman’s masterwork Nashville for Paramount in 1975. There are sadly no extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
