There's nothing too unique about the story of Grace: The Possession (the subtitle likely appended to distinguish it from the 2009 Jordan Ladd horror film), but the execution is a bit more intriguing. 90% of the film, directed by Jeff Chan, is seen from a first-person perspective. It's not a found footage movie, we're simply looking through the eyes of Grace...or perhaps, the evil force that's possessed her. The idea of seeing The Exorcist from Regan's perspective is fun enough, and this scant 88-minute picture (82 without credits) gets far enough on that gimmick to be worth a look for curious horror fans. It's mostly jump scares and distorted voices, but the first-person perspective is not only interesting on a filmmaking level, it's actually thematically relevant too, making the viewer a passenger in Grace's body as she does some bad deeds.

The direction starts out a little shaky, with Chan pushing a little hard on seeing Grace in reflective surfaces, or the volume of Grace's voice. It feels a little unnatural, but as the film progresses, he relaxes as the complexity of the action gets him out of his head in terms of the execution. It's also impressive how well Chan is able to include Fast's performance in the film, considering most of the time you don't see her, just hear her. Although, again, Chan does offer up a large number of sequences with mirrors where you can just see her face, many scenes where you're only seeing what she's looking at still sell her emotional perspective very easily, including nervousness, heartbreak, and of course, terror. Shaye, one of the character actor queens, is clearly having fun playing as repressed as possible, and Joel David Moore is charismatic as a kindly young man just a few days from becoming a priest.

As the film began, I got a bit worried that Grace was gonna get preachy on me. Nothing against Christian films, but religious morality tales, especially those about young women, can get a little sexist, and it's also nice to know those kinds of details going in rather than discovering them unexpectedly. Thankfully, the film eventually reveals that it has no particular sway, and if it did, good Christian morals aren't among them (the scene where I knew for sure where the filmmakers stood spins things so thoroughly in the opposite direction, I actually laughed out loud). Although Grace is attracted to Brad, the film manages to stay basically neutral on her desires, suggesting that the force inside her may prompt certain actions without claiming all of those actions are inherently evil. It probably doesn't matter much whether or not Grace is religious or not, but it was something on my mind as the movie was unfolding.

Recently, an IndieGoGo campaign went up for Hardcore, a feature action film shot entirely in first person. Grace: The Possession is not nearly as dynamic as the footage for Naishuller's project, but it gives a strong taste of the potential for films with this type of cinematography. The only problem with The Possession is that Chan isn't adventurous enough, using his style to separate his movie from the crowd but rarely pushing the envelope with it, trying wild and inventive things, not to mention the fairly generic nature of the screenplay. It'll make for a good Redbox picture under the right circumstances, but it feels like the tip of the iceberg of what could be done with a unique directorial style.

The DVD
I suppose it's hard to figure out what kind of artwork to do for a film mostly seen in first-person, but I don't know that the artwork Sony has come up with is a great compromise, featuring a possessed Grace looking up at a pastor's hand. Surely, a mirror shot with the arms in the frame would've conveyed the film's unique hook better, and set it apart from a number of other similar horror movies, such as Devil's Due and The Devil Inside. The single-disc release comes in an eco-friendly Amaray case (with holes in it), and there is no insert.

The Video and Audio
Presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, Grace: The Possession fares better than the other DTV, DVD-only Sony release I watched recently (not least of the reasons being, this one doesn't have six 5.1 tracks crammed onto it, or any supplements). Most of the movie takes place in dark or low-light situations but banding is kept to a minimum, present but not particularly intrusive. Outdoor, daytime scenes look quite nice, and colors appear as saturated and vibrant as intended, with the more eerie sequences taking place in a grandmother's house and a church, which are decked out in more conservative browns and whites. The pulsing atmosphere of a (movie) college frat party provides an excellent opportunity for the sound mix to show off, as do Grace's many freak-outs, including a spectacular finale where (ahem) all Hell breaks loose. There is some decent bass action and fairly subtle creep-out cues throughout. French and Spanish 5.1 tracks, and English captions, English, French, and Spanish subtitles are also included. The captions feature a dark backdrop.

The Extras
None.

Conclusion
Grace is a fun movie if you're just in the mood for some visually interesting jump scares, but it's not one viewers are likely to return to over and over again. Combined with the lack of extras, this one's a rental.