Well, until the final shot that is. The trailer for the film Possession is a powerful one that has some great music that builds well and heightens the effect of the images which manage to build the intrigue and fear without resorting to the usual scare tactics.

For the most part it also manages to stay clear of big effects tricks, until that superb ending sequence and the dramatic music kicks in.

I have to admit it's a great trailer although there are two niggling moments for me, and both hang around the same effect, the one shown in the poster itself.

Seeing the hand coming out of a person's mouth is something I've seen before and it appears in two places in the end sequence of the trailer but far from the effect of the rest of the trailer where I do feel the tension building and the ability to scare grow, these look hyper real and scream effects shot so much that it doesn't appear scary or strange.

For something to be truly scary I find that it has to have some rooting in reality and the idea of a finger or a hand coming up from inside your own body doesn't work because there's just no way it could work, even in a world of horror and fantasy.

Oh I know people will say that it can't be real, that these films aren't real, etc. Yet if you look at films that really scare you it's the reality that's scary more than anything. The two latest Thing's for example, the scariest part is the paranoia, the not knowing who to trust, not the head on six legs scuttling about, or think about The Exorcism of Emily Rose (Filmstalker review), that doesn't involve any huge effects trickery, it's heavily based on reality and a real story, and it's incredibly scary for it.

The idea of a person, even a supernatural one, down my throat shoving their whole around out to grab my own head is not scary, it's silly, and it looks silly too. Unfortunately I think that's going to be a main feature of the film considering the poster.

Still, ignore this and you have a fantastic trailer for The Posession. Here's a blurb for the film:

Clyde and Stephanie Brenek see little cause for alarm when their youngest daughter Em becomes oddly obsessed with an antique wooden box she purchased at a yard sale. But as Em's behavior becomes increasingly erratic, the couple fears the presence of a malevolent force in their midst, only to discover that the box was built to contain a dibbuk, a dislocated spirit that inhabits and ultimately devours its human host.

Possession which comes through Ghost House Pictures was directed by Ole Bornedal who directed Nightwatch and its English language remake as well as Deliver Us From Evil, and its written by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White who between them have the new Poltergeist and Knowing to their names. The film also stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick.

Here is that trailer over at which comes through First Showing:

What do you think?