Aside from their individual religious beliefs, and judging by the odd things happening on set, the cast and crew of the new supernatural thriller The Possession, felt they were not alone.

Sudden gusts of wind in closed studios with no windows or open doors, 5K Fresnel lights exploding, 3 or 4 times, in the middle of key scenes and as actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Clyde) describes the weirdest one, “all of our props, the Dibbuk box included, were put into storage in Vancouver, so we could go back if we had to do reshoots, we had everything there. A week after we wrapped filming, the storage unit burned to the ground. It was investigated. It wasn’t arson, it wasn’t electrical fire. It started from within.”

Based on a true story, The Possession is the terrifying story of how one family must unite in order to survive the wrath of an unspeakable evil contained in a mysteriously inscribed wooden box. A Dibbuk’s Box contains, according to Jewish folklore, a sinful spirit wandering in limbo, which survives by fusing itself to a living person and inhabiting their very flesh.

Rounding up the cast and joining Morgan is Kyra Sedgwick (Stephanie), Natasha Calis (Em) and musician Matishayu (Tzadok), under the direction of Ole Bornedal and the producing hand of Sam Raimi, going back to his horror genre roots.

Bornedal knew that finding the right Em would be a challenging task, because for him it was important to find natural people and actors who can give “really naked performances.” He had no doubt that 13-year-old Calis was meant to play Em.

Calis talks about playing this role, with a singular maturity for a girl her age. “It was fun experimenting what level I could take Em to, because she’s such a complex character. I really played two characters. I played the 11-year-old girl and I played the 11-year-old girl getting devoured by this demon inside of her,” she said at a recent press conference.

Writers Juliet Snowden and Stiles White wanted to avoid a slasher, gory story that is very typical with horror films. They wanted to make sure the center of the story was the family, also taking as many facts from the newspaper article that inspired their script. “We like stories were families are being tested by some kind of phenomenon,” added White.

Beware, The Possession gives a new face to evil...

THE POSSESSION In theaters August 31^st