Very well executed

Expected more

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

it is 2.30am now. before watching his i thought that "this movie is like the exorcist! COOL" well I ended up. "i wish i saw the room instead". this is a very very VERY boring movie with no redeeming quality. the story is so bad that a 10 year old can make up a much better one. just put some racism and pedophilia in a blender and thats it. I wonder how the guy who gave it a ten said "it is like the exorcist predecessor". this is not even a hack and slash movie. the exorcist is a million times better. this is plain ZERo.well not even close. it is also not "so bad it is awesome" movies. it is simply plain boring. there isn't even one cheap jump scare. this should not be classified in horror movies categories. even if you want to watch it like the room or troll 2 you won't find any enjoyment. the movie is about 90 minutes. until the last minutes there is NOTHING. just a worried women going here and there for more than 70 minutes!. this is not like those detective movies. also there is not even 1 single special effect. at least troll 2 HAD special effects. non here.it is just a 5 minute story stretched into 90 minutes. Warning. just skip this movie and watch anything else.

This is essential 70's supernatural horror. The acting is all solid and the story is told remarkably well. The mythology is executed perfectly. Its well defined, but not so overly explained that all the mystery is rung dry. Joel and his family are very believable, which adds this "day-in-the-life" feeling to the movie. This makes the discomforting events that unfold all the more effective to the viewer. The suspense drew me in from the first minute and never let up. On top of that, the shock scenes are genuinely shocking even for the 70's. The ending may be a bit formulaic but the overall experience is in no way dampened by it. The only real problem I had with this film is the stiff, generic title that compelled me to hold off on watching it for too long.

Wealthy, upper class New Yorker Nora Benson (Shirley MacLaine) lives in a brownstone with her two children. One evening, after inviting her younger brother Joel (Perry King) over for dinner, she has a disturbing phone call, and when she arrives to check on him, finds him chanting and screaming, being escorted by the police. Her concern grows as his behavior becomes stranger and stranger - she takes him into her home, hoping to help him. But suspicions arise when Nora stumbles upon his girlfriend's decapitated body, and he speaks of his Puerto Rican friend, "Tonio", a suspected serial killer who decapitated city women the year before, and apparently vanished. Desperate for answers, Nora herself enters a completely different world - Spanish Harlem - in hopes of finding out what is wrong with her brother.A little-known possession tale from the early 1970s, based on Ramona Stewart's novel, "The Possession of Joel Delaney" is a pretty interesting supernatural thriller that emerged a year before the possession classic "The Exorcist". While "Joel Delaney" isn't nearly as graphic, it is still a fairly chilling, suspenseful, and well-made movie. I read the book, which was very scary, and this film adaptation is done nicely. The beginning sets the stage for the eerie things that are to come, and it just progresses from there to the disturbing (and quite controversial) last ten minutes of the film. What I liked most about this movie was the sense of discomfort that it gave off, even during the most simple of scenes. There's an overall air to the movie of things not being right, and the paranoia and fear translates from the characters to the audience very well.It also takes advantage of the New York city setting, somewhat a reminiscent of "Rosemary's Baby", and later used in "The Eyes of Laura Mars" in a similar fashion. Thematically, this is also quite a unique horror picture, because of its depiction of the clashing of cultures, as our prim & proper, upper class protagonist is whirled into different surroundings, beliefs, and an overall way of life, while trying to uncover the mystery behind her brother's odd behavior. The displacement of Nora in Spanish Harlem makes for some interesting scenes in this movie. It's a fairly light film gore-wise, albeit a couple of severed heads (which I must admit, that first discovery of the body is damn chilling), but the suspense throughout holds the film together. Shirley MacLaine is excellent and extremely believable here, playing a naive, somewhat close-minded Manhattan socialite. Her performance is very real and she does a solid job throughout. Perry King plays her brother, a man who willingly "seeks out poverty" (living in a seedy apartment in Spanish Harlem), as his sister puts it, and is the center of all the supernatural events. Both MacLaine and King have good chemistry and carry the movie quite well. As for the ending, which has sparked controversy over the years due to some brief depiction of child nudity (in a non-sexual manner of course), it's pretty disturbing, but I don't really see the huge fuss about it. Anyway, the final frame of the movie leaves the viewer questioning, but also hints at one of the main possibilities, which I liked a lot.Overall, "The Possession of Joel Delaney" is a neat little horror movie that is worth seeking out if you are interested by the subject matter. The acting is top-notch (especially considering it's a '70s horror flick), there are a couple of good scares and some efficient atmosphere, and the suspense is well-plotted. I liked this film, it's not perfect, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Recommended for fans of supernatural horror movies, especially all those that emerged from the 1970s. 8/10.

What a pile of junk! I never thought I would be sickened by a movie, and I've seen some garbage in my time. The exorcist is supposed to be the king of the possession movies, shocking, frightening, disturbing, but even the exorcist with its gore and profanity doesn't stoop to paedophilia. I saw this movie on TV some years back and was totally disgusted with the scenes which show a 13 year old child forced to strip naked and dance!! this movie was surely intended for paedophiles and the sick scum that delight in the abuse of children. The makers of this filth should be imprisoned at least, and made to pay for their terrible crime against common decency! Shirley Mclain should be ashamed to have any connection with this film! Avoid this filth at all costs!!!