Possessing Piper Rose (2011 TV Movie) User Reviews

being made as a TV movie it is sometimes laughable

[trashgang · 4/10 · 4 October 2012]

Possessing Piper Rose or as it is sold in Europe under Possessed By evil is a perfect example of a TV horror movie. It do has all elements to call it a horror but it fails completely because it is a TV movie which means, the whole family could watch it.

The story is simple and see, sigh, a thousand times before. Joanna Maxwell (Rebecca Romijn) and her husband Ben Maxwell (David Cubitt) are a new couple. The want their own child, David already has one, but it isn't possible to have it on the natural way so they adopt a child, Piper Rose (Isabella Cramp). Of course things are wrong with Piper.

What we have next is that she sings strange songs, her mother appears as a ghost, supernatural things are happening, killers with big knifes are on the run, possessed grandmothers, in fact, everything a horror buff wants you will get in this flick but it becomes sometimes laughable because it is a TV movie. The grandmother becomes possessed by evil spirits (the mother of Piper) but her eyes (CGI) only changes from color. It is so low that even when a knife is flying through the air and cuts into the flesh it is all done off-camera and we do see the result but there's almost no blood to see that it is almost a spoof.

Me, as a mega horror buff did laugh a few times even as it wasn't mentioned to be funny. And the fact that the rebellious son hates his stepmother and naturally loves her towards the end of the flick, well, you could have guessed it in the first minute. Even the last minute of this flick is so predictable that I rather thought that it was a comedy.

If they had made it unrated well, this would be a hell of a movie but now, it's possessed by ....stupidity.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Story 3/5 Effects 2/5 Comedy 0/5

"Every Woman Deserves to be a Mom"

[lavatch · 5/10 · 24 November 2019]

The viewer wants to empathize with Ben and Joanna Maxwell, who desperately try to adopt a child. When they are rebuffed by the heartless Hearts Without Bounds adoption agency, they are given an unusual opportunity to adopt a little girl named Piper by a rogue adoption agent. Both Ben and Joanna know that the adoption is illegal, but they go ahead anyway. Later in the film when Ben wonders, "What have we got ourselves into?", the answer is simple: an enormous paranormal mess of your own choosing!

"Possessing Piper Rose" unfolded like a predictable exorcism film. And despite the good performances, the scenes became more and more unpleasant, especially in the slowly paced second half of the film. For example, there are two kind characters, Gretchen and Professor Todd Sorensen, who help out with their understanding of "crossing over to the other plane" to stop supernatural threats posed by both Piper's birth mother and Lydia Newman, the unscrupulous adoption agent. Both Gretch and Todd give their all in the exorcism, and pay the ultimate price for their kindness in violent deaths.

Structurally, the film was disappointing with multiple false endings. Just when things were lightening up, there would be a recurring assault from the netherworld in the return of Piper's birth mother. By the end, it is unclear what will be the future of the poor little girl and her adoptive Maxwell family. In the final analysis, there is only one certainty: the piper must be paid.

Lifetime horror

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 13 May 2023]

Joanna (Rebecca Romijn) and Ben Maxwell are a couple desperate to adopt a child, but her anti-depressant use is blocking them. Case worker Lydia Newman offers them a young girl from a troubled family. It's a sketchy situation, but her desperation wins out. Her mother is in long-term care struggling with dementia.

This Lifetime TV movie is trying for the supernatural, but it's not visually capable. It really should fully invest into the horror aspect of the story. The filmmaking is not good enough. The genre work is not here. This is not in Lifetime's wheelhouse. The second half flip saps most of the horror energy.

It possessed and wasted two hours of my life

[auditrix · 1/10 · 30 October 2011]

I continue to check out Lifetime channel and Lifetime Movie channel for movies. Majority are yawns but every now and then a good one makes it.

This is not one of the good ones. A couple adopts a child in not such a legal way and the problems start. The first problem is the acting. The second problem is a plot that has been repeated over and over. This movie brings nothing new to the table.

The adoptive mother has a mother in a care facility and she becomes possessed by the child's biological mother. The possession involves her eyes turning bright green. A five year old could have been more creative.

Sometimes a really bad movie will actually make you laugh. This one doesn't provide that form of entertainment.

Avoid this dud at all cost.

Good movie. Other review say cause isn't gory is stupid

[thebilliejean · 4 January 2017]

Let me tell you gore doesn't make a movie. The movie was great it goes for the old horror movie you don't need gore to make a great horror movie. Loved this movie, good effects, good acting it doesn't look like it was made for T.V. If you are a true horror fan and not a stupid little teenagers or adult I highly recommend the movie. It did scare me .It was well done. Realistic.I really love this movie is different it might look similar but is actually very different from the mainstreams possession movies. Just give it a try if you truly love art and you are not in just for the gore or the organs falling out or head chopping around that you won't find it here, but things that would make you tremble?, yes you will.

One of the worst movies ever!

[jcmoffatt · 1/10 · 17 November 2012]

I cannot believe people get paid for "acting" this poorly. Are you kidding me? I was embarrassed for each and every "actor" in this movie (and I use the term loosely)! Overacting at its very worst. I couldn't turn this movie off because it amazed me to see what some people will do for money. Unbelievable. It should be listed as a comedy, not a horror. Horror? No, horrific! It would be very interesting to see what these people were paid to do something so embarrassing to the industry. To know that these actors make so much more than people such as doctors, that save peoples' lives, is so backwards and just wrong. I have seen my share of terrible movies and this one ranks just about at the top of the heap. Just because this was a TV movie doesn't excuse the awful writing or acting.

It's a lifetime movie

[blackbeagle-33579 · 3/10 · 24 May 2019]

Middle aged super wealthy white woman pathologically obsessed with getting a baby at all costs. Gets said cute little satanic demon spawn and then of course proceeds to shriek at and alienate everyone in her family and friends. Spawn girl does what they do which is homicidal. New mom refuses to recognize it yadda yadda. Can you guess the ending or are you short a few chromosomes?

Could have been so much better

[iainmcleod_800 · 4/10 · 8 January 2020]

The idea has been done before, i know, but this was slightly different and so could have been so much better. Which is a shame cause i like rebecca r and the guy from travellers. The way she spoke to him in the pool, i mean really out of character she was playing and made me dislike her, I thought maybe she was possessed. But no, just nasty. The mum makes a recovery very quickly. And the nurse, like ud risk your life for this lot? Mostly boring, but could have had so many more scares. And that woman just bashing the door for 10 minutes - enough.

Above average Lifetime Channel ghost story

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 7/10 · 30 October 2013]

After adopting a little girl through nefarious means, a couple start to believe her attachment to her real mother might mean that her spirit is the cause of a series of supernatural attacks that they have to discover the cause of to keep their new daughter alive.

This was an absolutely enjoyable Lifetime effort that really has a lot going for it. One of the better additions to this one is the fact that the ghost here is actually a credible threat throughout and actually has some rather impacting moments on the film. Starting with the rather tame appearances before graduating to themes such as flat-out possession, body manipulation, control over the outside world and even managing to take on hauntings at several locations at the same time means that this is a rather credible threat rather than something that just happens to have a ghost involved but never really gets to do anything since it appears so sporadically. However, here it not only gets to interfere in the daily life of the family and cause a lot of mayhem, for lack of a better term in such a movie, it also manages to interact far more often without really loosing the fear. This is helpful in the later half where the ghostly hauntings becomes far more physical where they attack using items around the room with ghostly voices and ethereal light bouncing around which sounds ludicrous in many ways but actually holds together far better than expected. With a few too many plot lines that seem perfectly suited to such a platform including the step-mom's relationship with her own mother as well as the attempt at inter-family discord that drives the plodding mid-section, there's times where the horror becomes secondary which makes for a little jerking pace as it's set-up with the horror at the beginning through her mysterious arrival and quirky behavior, gets dropped for lame family squabbles and picks up again at the end with the exorcism and final battle. That said, all-in-all this was quite enjoyable.