The Possession of Michael King is a 2014 American found footage horror film written and directed by David Jung, in his directorial debut, from a story by himself and Tedi Sarafian. The film had its world premiere on August 14, 2014 in Singapore and had a limited theatrical release in the United States on August 22 of the same year. It was released on to video on demand on August 26, 2014. It stars Shane Johnson as a widowed, atheist filmmaker who finds himself the target of demonic forces.
Plot
Documentary-maker Michael King does not believe in God, the devil, or any other supernatural existence. His wife Samantha believed the opposite. For many years, she visited medium Beverly for spiritual assistance. In a confrontation with Beverly, Michael tells her that his wife was killed in an accident after taking Beverly’s advice to stay home for her career instead of traveling with Michael. He asks her to admit that she’s faking it, but she instead consoles him.
Michael struggles to pick up his life again after the death of Samantha, having his sister Beth help care for his daughter, Ellie. He decides to make a documentary to prove that there is no afterlife, in which he offers himself as a test subject for the darkest supernatural rituals people believe. He places an advertisement on the internet where people can respond with suggestions for experiments to prove the opposite of his position. Michael decides that if he is wrong, at least he will become the first person with concrete evidence for the supernatural.
The first of Michael's internet contacts to visit him is a spiritual named Gibbons, whose sexually abusive father died of a heart attack shortly after he prayed to Satan for help, which Michael calls coincidence. Michael orders things online with which he could attempt to call demons, but nothing happens. Then he visits self-proclaimed demonologist Augustine and his wife Marsha. They give him LSD, bind him to a cross in their cellar, and chant spells onto him. Michael trips, but demons do not appear, and Augustine and Marsha use the opportunity to have sex with each other in his and his cameraman Jordan’s presence.
Michael contacts a funeral director who claims to be a necromancer. He dehydrates Michael with the substance "DMT" from the body of a toad (although not specified, this would be 5-MeO-DMT), which causes psychedelic experiences. Then he takes Michael to a cemetery at night, where he wants to transfer the spirit of a newly deceased person into his body. Before they are able to complete the ritual, police arrive. They run, and Jordan finds Michael under a trance, later claiming to have seen and felt Samantha.
Michael and Jordan attend a group meeting with a medium, who tries to give a message directly to Michael but has a seizure. At home, Michael begins suffering from a constant sound inside his head. He goes to a psychologist, who tries to get rid of the sound with hypnotherapy. The session is interrupted because lights in the room fail, and Michael moves feverishly around and shouts. Jordan analyzes the camera recording and determines that human vocal chords are not capable of producing those shouts. Michael suspects it’s a camera defect but Jordan leaves the documentary. Michael takes the camera to film himself. Without knowing it, he walks around at night, in one instance feeling Beth while she sleeps.
The sound in Michael's head begins to appear more often, and is like a talking voice. He becomes convinced that something dangerous is happening to him. He looks for the funeral owner to ask for help but he pushes him away. At night he unwittingly goes into Ellie's bedroom with a kitchen knife. The next day, Beth finds their dog, Fishbone, dead in Ellie's bed.
Michael sends Beth and Ellie away to stay with friends. Because the church refuses to do an exorcism, he tries to do it at home on his own. A Bible he holds goes up in flames and the entity in possession of his body makes him carve a pentagram on his torso. When he sews his injuries the next day, he notices that it hardly hurts to insert a needle into his thumb. The voice in his head demands that Michael kill Ellie. He refuses and goes after random people instead, unable to control himself. Michael decides to chain himself with handcuffs to his bed. He wakes the next morning to find the living room trashed. The walls are full of signs written in blood in Latin.