From Chris Sparling (writer of the underrated ATM) comes The Atticus Institute, a demonic possession movie set in the mid-1970s. It’s presented in documentary form with lots of talking head interviews and archival footage. Anyone rolling their eyes thinking “found footage,” don’t sweat it. This film’s very light on the POV, shake cam junk. Most of the footage is stationary or security camera-style. Technically, The Atticus Institute is a very well made film. It genuinely feels like a doc you’d catch on the History Channel one night.
Despite its craftsmanship and an interesting premise, the film is ultimately a bore. The period it’s set in is during a time when there was a popular interest in things like ESP and psychokinesis. At the titular institute in Pennsylvania, Dr. Henry West (William Mapother) and his team of researchers perform various tests on subjects who purportedly have psychic abilities. Many of his subjects turn out to be frauds (magnets in the watch!) until along comes Judith Winstead (Rya Kihlstedt).
Judith is the real deal. She displays some abilities the staff describe as “godlike” that violate the laws of physics. Her talent runs the gamut of kinesis: from telekinesis to pyrokinesis. As her powers get progressively more gnarly, Dr. West and his crew are “too excited to be scared.” They call in people from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency for help, but all the government is interested in is harnessing Judith’s powers for military purposes (no shit, what did you think they would do?).
The Atticus Institute cuts between interviews with staff members, friends, family members, etc. and footage of tests being performed on Judith. As the experiments become progressively more invasive, her behavior becomes increasingly aggressive and violent. The concept of demonic possession doesn’t hit the staff until late into the film though. Even when Judith starts speaking in what seems like gibberish and growling in a deep bellow resembling a gorilla, possession doesn’t cross their mind. It’s set in 1976, a few solid years after The Exorcist came out. How did they not immediately think she’s possessed? Maybe they don’t get out to the movies much.
There’s nothing in the film we haven’t seen before and none of the scary moments are effective. There are some neat little subtle tricks when Judith uses her powers early on (a card bends, a chair moves), but nothing particularly remarkable happens during the tests. It is very well put together and does a fine job mimicking an actual documentary, but overall there’s nothing entertaining or engaging about it. No tension is ever built up and many of the scenes that try to be scary are first introduced by a talking head saying something like, “That one night in the lab…it was crazy.” Then we see what happens and it’s all very anticlimactic. It’s all very tedious. Which the whole movie is, wasting an interesting concept for the same cheap tricks and plot twists we’ve seen before.
The Atticus Institute is now available On Demand and DVD/Blu-ray.