We are all living on the brink of destruction, and it doesn’t take much to send a family into financial ruin. What happens when a middle-aged, hard-working man loses his job? In my review of Ming Siu Goh’s Repossession…the devil is in the details.
Repossession (With Spoilers)
Gravitas Ventures and Kamikaze Dogfight have delivered a horror film that deals with the terror of modern social issues. Repossession, which was written and directed by Ming Siu Goh and Scott C. Hillyard tells the daunting story of middle-aged, Jim (Gerald Chew) who loses his job for no apparent reason. His colleagues are upset, but what are they to do.?The acting is amazing in this film, with ex excellent work by Gerald Chew, Amy J. Cheng, Sivakumar Palakrishnan, Rachel Wan, Jennifer Ebron, and Matthew Loo.
The story takes place in Singapore, Jim’s job had (until his termination) enabled his wife, Linda (Amy J. Cheng) and his daughter, Ashley (Rachel Wan) to live a comfortable life in a beautiful condo with a built-in pool, a maid named Maria (Jennifer Ebron), and finally… Jim’s expensive Audi. Why Jim withholds the news of his job loss from his wife, is not clear but it leads to all kinds of problems.
The bills start to accumulate which Jim does his best to hide from his family, and his search for another job is a total disappointment because of his age. Employers are looking for younger people. What is even more upsetting is that he isn’t able to keep up the payments to the nursing home where his sister is a patient.
We don’t know that much about the sister except through unsettling flashbacks where it is hinted that the sister may have been possessed at a young age. What we do know is that Jim’s life is spiraling out of control, and he is forced to get a job as an Uber driver. Jim begins to experience a dark presence in the condo. Is it his imagination?
Linda, who volunteers at a housing project delivering food and medicine to the tenants is blissfully unaware of the looming financial disaster, and neither is Jim’s daughter Ashley who is attending college to become a teacher. The only person aware of Jim’s problem is his good friend Vinod (Sivakumar Palakrishnan) who pleads with Jim to tell his family what is going on, especially after Jim makes a foolish investment with his remaining savings.
Conclusion
We watch in horror as Jim’s life and maybe his soul is threatened by a strange dark figure who tells Jim to end his life. Is this spirit somehow related to the strange boy (Matthew Loo) who booked a ride in Jim’s car, or to whatever possessed his sister when she was a child? There is an old saying that the only way a demon can possess a person is when that person has given up hope. Despair is the calling card of Satan.
After Linda learns that they will lose their home, the situation gets very dark for all concerned. This film is a supernatural thriller…that is for sure, but it is also a bird’s eye view of how easily it is for people to fall through the cracks in a world that eats you up and spits you out if you are no longer young, or if you lose your job.
The ending will shock you, and that is all I will say.
Repossession is a digital release in North America, available on VOD now.
