A psychological horror about a middle-aged man who loses his job and struggles to stay afloat. His ego and pride drive him to keep this a secret from his wife and daughter, while risky behavior sinks him deeper in debt. At the same time, an evil force begins to haunt him, and gradually threatens his loved ones.

REPOSSESSION will be screening at Cinequest March 13th, 15th

Goh Ming Siu, a usual small screen director, brings his debut feature film with the 2019 psychological thriller Repossession. An English-language Singaporean venture, Repossession is both written and directed by Mr. Goh, and is set to debut March 8th, 2019.

“You’re fired!” That is the sound we hear at the movie’s opening where we meet Jim, a 50-year old man coldly let go from his long-time job. On his way out after packing his things, he begins to hear voices in the dark and lonely hallways of the office building – weird, but his pressing financial situation is more so on his mind. Keeping the embarrassment of his firing a secret from his family, Jim struggles to even draft a new resume, and finds the grind of the interview process tedious and draining to his soul. He subsequently resorts to high-risk trading in an attempt to earn money and maintain his family’s lifestyle…as well as uber-ing on the side.

His wife finally finds out his secret, causing the fallout from his once perfectly balanced lies to come crashing in, as well as more noise from those ominous voices in his head. As Jim’s worries mount, the presence of the dark force grows more prominent and he begins to see glimpses of a sinister figure lurking in the shadows while hearing poltergeist-y bumps in the night. Eventually, the evil force grows strong enough to begin possessing his family members, and Jim enlists his friends to help exorcise the spirit from his wife and life for good. However, he realizes that is easier said than done, as he finds this particular spirit will hold on for his dear life.

Repossession works off of the Stephen King sentiment, “Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win”. It is a movie about never being able to escape your monsters, but even with its heavy subject matter the movie was surprisingly light on horror or even thriller, and was more a meh melodrama with an occasional jump scare. The film was okay, but overall it is not necessarily worth the watch. It plays out as expected with an uninteresting narrative, straightforward shots, and lack of tension or suspense building. The acting is noticeably glazed and lifeless, with the starring performances delivered by Gerald Chew and Amy Cheng as the husband and wife Jim and Linda.

Benjamin Franklin said it best “…in this world nothing can be certain, except death and taxes”. It turns out that this quip summarily extracts the premise of Goh Ming Siu’s Repossession – as bills for all of the material possessions pile up around him, the bodies of the people he loves begin to pile up as well. The horror is that he finds Ben Franklin was right, and he cannot escape either of his demons in the end, death or taxes. It sounds good, but this movie needed more drama and more horror and so it was, unfortunately, not an interesting watch. It is not entirely horrible though, and if you do find you would like to watch this paranormal psychological trip, Repossession is now available on digital platforms.

REPOSSESSION will be screening at Cinequest March 13th, 15th