Ava (Louisa Krause) has a possession issue of which she is cured in the first scene. Her immediate response is "How long was I out?" and "Did anyone call in sick for me?" Facing multiple criminal offenses, Ava opts to go into "Spirit Possession Anonymous" where she meets Hazel who liked being possessed and wants to embrace her demon.

The film is a light demonic possession as compared to "Repossessed." There are a number of good scenes and lines, but it tapers off. There is a mystery aspect to this, one that is fairly easy to figure out, and doesn't really add to the film as the comedy aspect outweighs the mystery aspect.

Worth a view for fans of horror comedy.

Guide: Swearing, sex. No nudity.

Young gal Ava (an excellent performance by Louisa Krause) is forced to join a Special Possessions support group in the wake of being possessed by a demon. Ava struggles to make amends with those she hurt while possessed and get her life back together only to have the demon return to possess her once again.

Writer/director Jordan Galland relates the enjoyably oddball and inspired story at a steady pace, maintains an amiable quirky tone throughout, mines a good deal of laughs from the deliciously dry'n'deadpan sense of dark humor, and delivers a few nifty twists and turns from the surprisingly intricate plot. Moreover, all the scenes with the therapy group are absolute gold.

The sound acting by the capable cast rates as another substantial asset: Whitney Able as Ava's loyal sister Jillian, William Sadler as concerned dad Bernard, Deborah Rush as doting mother Joanna, Zachary Booth as the creepy Roger, Lou Taylor Pucci as nice guy Ben Branson, Wass Stevens as strict group leader Tony, Annabelle Taylor-Jones as the brash Hazel, and Dan Fogler as helpful lawyer J. J. Samson. Carol Kane has a neat small role as an occult store owner. An offbeat treat.

Ava's possessions is a fairly original take on a tired sub genre. instead of being a straight forward exorcism film it answers the question of what it is like after the demon has been exorcised. through this plot device we are treated to a lot of dark humour which is also pretty refreshing for this particular sub genre. some may look at the demonic possession as a metaphor for addiction because of obvious similarities in the context of the films story. while I agree that this was probably the intent of the writers I think it was mainly for the reason of using it for comedic effect which actually worked quite well. the acting in the film is actually very good and the direction is as well. the problem here lies in the script. like many other horror films it seems like it is afraid of keeping it simple. the film feels the need to add sub plots that are really not essential for the success of the movie. the concept is already original enough and they could have easily told a decent story with some genuine atmosphere and loads of laughs. for instance the sub plot involving her friend wanting to get in touch with her own demon seems very out of place for the story they were originally trying to tell. it was as if they didn't know how to fill up the run time and came up with that idea to pad it out. while the score was also not anything truly memorable it was a good and fit the films tone very well. the lighting was also very good, a lot of glowing blues and greens that add a nice touch.

overall I would say Ava's possessions really was just average. could have been much better if the writers chose to not bog the film down with unnecessary sub plots and utilized the full potential of the original and fresh take on the exorcism genre. many more scenes of humor and horror could have graced the screen if they kept the plot simple.

the verdict: 5/10