Fear has always accompanied mankind ever since he took his first steps from the cave. Indeed, man has always been afraid of anything which he cannot understand. From the beginning of time, man has always created his Gods according to his levels of stupidity. Throughout time, science has sought to explain that every phenomenon has a rational explanation. But if Science is slow to understand and explain the strange and unusual, the ignorant will jump to the first conclusion explained by the charlatans among them. A case in point. This movie which preceded The Exorcist by a year, is called " The Possesson of Joel Delaney. " The story is that of a wealthy socialite, named Norah Benson (Shirley MacLain) who discovers her brother Joel (Perry King) is becoming mentally unhinged and is more irrational each day. Those around him believe he is possessed by a violent demon. She tries to help by calling on modern doctors and specialists. Because they are unable to cure him immediately, she desperately turns to magic, medicine men and voodoo healers. Despite their beads, rattles, chants and magical incantations, they too remain powerless to help. Finally, she is advised to leave the city and flee before her brother becomes a danger to her children, Peter and Carrie (David Elliott and Lisa Kohane) Unfortunate the dark drama of this film multiplies as Joel pursues her sister and the children to a beach house where in his demented state he plans to murder them. The incredible movie is superb in it's selection of MacClain, Perry, Elliott, Kohane and Michael Horden. The controversial scenes which were used by critics to condemned this film are mostly in the small minds of myopic censors who have never beheld anything stranger than a cat and dog fight. For the majority of audiences, the movie becomes a Classic and a milestone in the long journey away from censorship. An excellent film for the open-minded not afraid to take giant steps away from the cave door. ****

Manhattan socialite begins to fear for her troubled younger brother when he starts behaving bizarrely and he seems to have been friends with a backstreet murderer.

The Possession of Joel Delaney is a dark horror film with much going for it. For one, it's among the earliest horror films to deal with the theme of spiritual possession. Also, it's one of those horror gems that doesn't need to resort to special effects or overt gore and violence to be effectively unsettling. It's a thoroughly well-written film as it blends eerie supernatural horror with a strong social commentary. The plot is compelling and quite off-beat as it builds to some chilling peaks and a finale that's splendidly suspenseful. It's a truly disturbing tale.

The direction, cinematography, and urban locations are all good but the true highlight is the stars. Veteran actress Shirley MacLaine is great as her bewildered, yet unsympathetic character. However the show is truly stolen by young Perry King who puts on an excellent dynamic performance as his potentially unhinged character. It's easy to see why King went on to a notable career after this debut.

All around The Possession of Joel Delaney is one of the finer low-key horror films of the 70's. It's a film that wisely chooses the intelligent, non-camp approach to its subject matter and it comes off a solid effective chiller because of it.

*** 1/2 out of ****

When watching this movie, I kept saying to myself-"Okay,this is it. It can't get any more bizarre than this".

I was very,very wrong. It got weirder and weirder as it went along,each scene creeping me out and captivating me more and more.

This movie is hands down horrifying. One scene that particularly sticks to my mind is the scene where our hero, Norah, is walking into her beach house with her children dragging behind her. She walks into the kitchen,and on top of the refrigerator is a severed head. Well, you may be saying, that's standard slasher movie junk! Wrong! The director made that scene special because the audience can see the head sitting there long before Norah does. What made the scene even more original was the fact that in the first couple of seconds we see the head, it is just sitting there comfortably, no horror music or anything attached to it. At first I thought, hmm, nice kitchen...then my eyes drifted to the head and I thought ,woah, is that a head?!? The horror movie music kicked in a second later, confirming my fear that yes, it was a head.

And ritual scene where the Puerto Rican man became possessed was intense and nerve wracking. A very, very good, overlooked horror thriller.