12 Best Horror Movies About Demonic Possession

In a heartbreaking take on possession, Burnt Offerings depicts the breakdown of a family after the mother is possessed.

The action kicks off when the Rolf family, looking to rent a house for the summer, receive an offer that’s too good to be true. A whole country estate for just $900. It’s a little run down, but otherwise, it’s a grand mansion. There’s just one small catch, the elderly matriarch of the estate is to continue living in the attic and the Rolf family must provide her meals.

In a manner almost creepy enough to send the Rolfs running, the siblings who are letting the estate tell the family that ‘the house takes care of itself’. This, combined with the title (a burnt offering is a sacrifice to the gods), telegraphs the whole story upfront.

Sure enough, things go wrong from the start. With every misfortune the family suffer, the house regenerates a little more and with every little regeneration, the family becomes more fractured.

By the time they realise that Mrs Rolf has become the old woman in the attic, it’s too late. They are sacrificed to the house which is restored to its former glory alongside the old woman, who has her youth resorted in the body of Mrs Rolf.

Burnt Offerings has a stellar cast, including the always delightful Oliver Reed and the Golden Age star, Bettie Davis. Of course, Reed was pissed throughout, much to the chagrin of Davis, who hated him and everyone in the cast.

Burnt Offerings gives us a creepy take on possession, which is half ghost story, half melodrama. Complete with a sprawling mansion, it feels like a classic tale of the paranormal, and though we can see what’s coming from one moment to the next, it’s a highly enjoyable ride.