WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for The Possession of Hannah Grace, in theaters now.
It's relatively rare for a movie not to contain a plot hole. Everyone is a critic, and they will likely find some flaw -- real or perceived -- in a film's script or editing if they look close enough. Director Diederik Van Rooijen's The Possession of Hannah Grace certainly isn't an exception to that rule.
As the horror film follows morgue assistant Megan (Shay Mitchell) as she battles a demon possessing the corpse of Hannah Grace (Kirby Johnson), some blatant plot holes arise that threaten to transform the story from scary to downright silly.
HANNAH'S INCONSISTENT USE OF TELEKINESIS
The film does its best to make the possessed girl stand out from other works in the subgenre by imbuing Hannah with telekinesis. However, that power seems to manifest only when it's convenient to the plot. In the beginning, during the exorcism that killed her, Hannah levitates a priest and impales him on a crucifix, then follows up by trying to do the same to his assistant. Left with no other choice, her father, Grainger (Lewis Herthum), smothers her with a pillow. However, Hannah doesn't use telekinesis to try to stop him.
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It makes no sense, because the demon is clearly motivated by self-preservation, as evidenced later when it uses that ability on Grainger as he tries to help Megan in the morgue.
For whatever reason, the demon also never uses that power against Megan, its primary nemesis. When Megan's boyfriend, Andrew (Damon Grey), is being strung up by Hannah, Megan grabs his gun and shoots the possessed girl in the body and head. Once again, Hannah doesn't use telekinesis to stop Megan or the bullets. When Megan then tries to incinerate the bullet-riddled corpse, Hannah again refuses to use the power, instead opting for a wrestling match, which ends with her possessed vessel getting burned to ash.
NO ONE KNOWS HOW TO LOCK A DOOR
When you're being hunted by a demonically possessed corpse that can move at breakneck speeds or stealthily crawl up and along walls, closing a door or two would help. However, Hannah Grace's cast obviously didn't get that memo, because no one locks the doors in this movie at the most crucial moments.
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When we first meet Grainger, he appears to be a crazed hobo trying to break into the morgue, which leads a petrified Megan to call security to scare him away. However, mere minutes later, Megan nonchalantly goes outside to help an EMT haul a body in, leaving the door open, as if nothing happened. That allows Grainger to slip inside, which hastens Hannah's reawakening. Also, when Megan later tries to escape Hannah in the parking lot, she runs back inside the morgue, but again, she doesn't lock the door, allowing Hannah back inside.
Lastly, when Megan's nurse friend Lisa (Stana Katic) tries to flee from Hannah after she encounters the possessed girl in the staircase, she runs to the rooftop, opens the steel door, and speeds off to the ledge. Of course, she doesn't slam the door shut, which permits Hannah to murder her. We're not sure if surges of adrenaline make people oblivious to the benefits of a closed door, but as the film progresses, just about everyone who outruns Hannah simply leaves doors open for her to crawl around the morgue and go about her demonic business.
In theaters now, director Diederik Van Rooijen's The Possession of Hannah Grace stars Shay Mitchell, Grey Damon, Kirby Johnson, Louis Herthum, James A. Watson and Stana Katic.