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The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018) movie poster

Timeline

The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Release, runtime and language
2018 · 86 min · English
Echo score 45
Directed by
Diederik Van Rooijen
Starring
Mickey Gilmore, Jacob Ming-Trent, Nick Thune, J.P. Valenti, Stana Katic, Shay Mitchell
Budget
$7.7M

Following a failed attempt to perform an exorcism, a disturbing presence emerges within a morgue, targeting mortician Megan Reed. As night falls, she experiences terrifying visions and uncovers unsettling truths, believing a sinister force resides within a disfigured body. Determined to confront the evil, Megan must fight to survive the night and prevent the unleashing of a horrifying power.

On this page (6)
  1. 1 Where to watch
  2. 2 Events in order (13)
  3. 3 Timeline questions answered
  4. 4 Movie threads
  5. 5 Movies like The Possession of Hannah Grace
  6. 6 Every angle

Where to watch

Where to Watch The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018)

Where can you watch The Possession of Hannah Grace? Stream, rent or buy it in the US, including on Amazon Video, Apple TV Store and Fandango At Home: current JustWatch availability with up-to-date prices.

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13 events in order · contains spoilers

The Possession of Hannah Grace Timeline: Events in Chronological Order

Every key event of The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018) in order, scene by scene, with when and where it takes place. Use it to untangle flashbacks, time jumps and parallel storylines, to refresh your memory before the sequel or to find the exact scene you are thinking of.

  1. The Exorcism of Hannah Grace

    The film opens with a harrowing exorcism involving two priests trying to save Hannah Grace from a powerful malevolent force. In a chaotic scene, one priest is thrown against the wall, and there's a fatal struggle, leading to the desperate action of her father, Grainger, who tries to smother his daughter to protect her.

  2. Three Months Later

    Fast forward three months, Megan Reed arrives in Boston, preparing for a fresh start at Boston Metro Hospital. Motivated by her friend Lisa, she hopes that this new chapter will help her move past her troubled history.

    Where
    Boston Metro Hospital
  3. First Night at the Morgue

    On her first night shift, Megan meets security guards, Ernie and Dave, who provide a brief sense of familiarity amidst the eerie atmosphere of the morgue. However, the unsettling environment and the odor of death soon begin to weigh on her mind.

    Where
    Hospital Morgue
  4. Confronting the Past

    As Megan settles into her role, she is plagued by painful memories of a tragic incident where her hesitation led to her partner's death. This unresolved trauma triggers her descent into substance abuse and rehab, complicating her current emotional state.

  5. Visit from Andrew

    Megan's ex-boyfriend Andrew arrives to collect his belongings, reigniting old tensions and unresolved feelings. Their conversation reveals the emotional toll their relationship has taken on both of them, further destabilizing her mental health.

  6. Strange Encounter with Grainger

    During a night shift, Megan is confronted by a hooded figure who turns out to be Grainger, demanding entry into the morgue. Her refusal leads to a disturbing incident when she receives a mutilated body, only to discover it is Hannah's.

    Where
    Hospital Morgue
  7. Hallucinations Begin

    Upon realizing she is dealing with Hannah's corpse, Megan begins experiencing bizarre and horrifying hallucinations, including swarming flies. This marks the beginning of her descent into a terrifying world where the line between reality and the supernatural blurs.

    Where
    Hospital Morgue
  8. Paranormal Escalation

    As days pass, Megan encounters increasing paranormal occurrences, including the ominous disappearance of Hannah's body and Grainger's violent outbursts. Each bizarre event further unravels her grip on reality and leads to sheer terror.

  9. Body Count Rises

    The stakes rise as friends and colleagues succumb to the cursed entity. Lisa meets a gruesome fate on the rooftop, and soon after, Dave suffers a horrific death in the very morgue where Megan works, intensifying her urgency to confront the growing evil.

    Where
    Hospital Rooftop and Morgue
  10. The Secret of Regeneration

    Megan and Andrew discover that Hannah's body regenerates with each death, realizing that they must find a way to destroy it to end the horror. Faced with mounting dread, they race against time to find a solution.

  11. Confrontation with Hannah

    In a climactic showdown, Megan confronts her fears as she battles the remnants of Hannah's dark entity. Witnessing Ernie’s brutal murder solidifies her resolve to end the chaos, pushing her towards a desperate act of self-defense.

    Where
    Hospital Morgue
  12. Final Act of Desperation

    With a moment of sheer will, Megan fires a shot, forcing Hannah into the incinerator. This act of finality is filled with tension as Hannah pleads for mercy, encapsulating the horror and desperation of the situation.

    Where
    Hospital Morgue
  13. Aftermath and Reflection

    In the aftermath of the confrontation, Megan begins to reclaim her life, slowly working towards healing. However, a simple yet ominous moment—a fly on the mirror—serves as a chilling reminder that the past may still haunt her.

Last updated: November 02, 2024 at 12:23

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Timeline questions answered

The Possession of Hannah Grace Timeline Explained: Your Questions Answered

When does it happen, and why in that order? The questions people ask about the chronology of The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018): time jumps, flashbacks, cause and effect between scenes and the correct order of events, each answered with spoilers.

Q1

Why does the exorcism of Hannah Grace fail?

The exorcism fails because the demon inside Hannah is too powerful for the two priests to contain. When they attempt to cast out the malevolent force, Hannah's body becomes a weapon for the entity, attacking the priests with supernatural strength. One priest is thrown against a wall and impaled, while the other begins choking, forcing her father Grainger to take desperate action.

Foreshadowing: The opening scene establishes early that this demon operates beyond normal religious intervention.

  • exorcism
  • demon
  • priests
  • failed exorcism
  • Hannah Grace
Q2

Why does Grainger smother his daughter during the exorcism?

Grainger smothers Hannah because he believes he is saving her from the torment inflicted by the demon. Seeing his daughter in agony and priests failing the to help her, he makes a desperate decision to end her suffering by suffocating her, not realizing that this act does not actually kill the demon residing within her.

Foreshadowing: Grainger's mistaken belief that he can save his daughter through this act directly leads to the horror that follows.

  • Grainger
  • father
  • smother
  • daughter
  • mercy killing
Q3

Why is Hannah Grace's body at Boston Metro Hospital?

Hannah's body ends up at Boston Metro Hospital's morgue because Grainger, her father, brought her there after the failed exorcism. The film establishes that her body was delivered to the morgue, which becomes the setting where Megan later encounters it.

Foreshadowing: The presence of Hannah's body at the morgue is the central catalyst for all the horror that follows.

  • morgue
  • body
  • hospital
  • Hannah Grace
  • Grainger
Q4

Why does the demon target Megan Reed specifically?

The demon targets Megan because she is psychologically vulnerable. Megan is a recovering addict with unresolved trauma from a past incident where her hesitation caused her partner's death. This emotional weakness makes her susceptible to the demon's influence, allowing it to manifest and torment her.

Foreshadowing: Megan's backstory of addiction and trauma is established early, explaining why she becomes the demon's focus.

  • Megan Reed
  • demon
  • vulnerability
  • addiction
  • trauma
  • target
Q5

How does Hannah Grace's body keep regenerating?

Hannah's body regenerates because the demon possesses a supernatural ability to resurrect and heal the corpse each time it is killed. This regeneration is a key plot point that forces Megan and Andrew to realize they cannot simply destroy the body once, they must find a way to permanently end the entity's hold on the corpse.

Foreshadowing: The regeneration is discovered after multiple characters die trying to stop the entity, raising the stakes.

  • regeneration
  • resurrection
  • body
  • demon
  • destroy
Q6

Why does Grainger keep trying to access Hannah's body?

Grainger attempts to access Hannah's body because he is still under the demon's influence or believes he can somehow save her. His repeated attempts to enter the morgue suggest the demon is using him to reach the corpse, possibly to complete some ritual or prevent the body from being destroyed.

Foreshadowing: Grainger's obsession with the body connects directly to the opening scene where he made his fatal decision.

  • Grainger
  • Hannah
  • body
  • morgue
  • access
Q7

Why does Megan start seeing hallucinations and visions?

Megan experiences hallucinations because the demon is actively tormenting her and attempting to break her mind. As she encounters Hannah's body, the supernatural entity uses her psychological vulnerabilities, her past trauma and guilt, to manifest terrifying visions, including swarming flies and apparitions of Hannah.

Foreshadowing: Megan's flashback to her partner's death establishes her psychological weakness early.

  • hallucinations
  • visions
  • demon
  • flies
  • psychological
Q8

Why do Ernie, Dave, and Lisa die in the film?

Each character dies because the demon within Hannah's body targets anyone who stands in its way or gets close to Megan. Lisa is killed on the rooftop, Dave dies in the morgue, and Ernie is murdered during the final confrontation. Their deaths serve to escalate the terror and force Megan to confront the entity alone.

Foreshadowing: The rising body count demonstrates the demon's increasing power and lack of mercy.

  • Ernie
  • Dave
  • Lisa
  • deaths
  • murdered
  • demon
Q9

Does the demon actually die at the end of the movie?

Megan successfully destroys Hannah's body by shooting it and pushing it into the incinerator, appearing to kill the demon. However, the final scene shows a fly landing on Megan's mirror, hinting that the entity's influence may not be fully eliminated, it suggests the trauma and evil could persist, leaving an ambiguous conclusion.

Foreshadowing: The fly imagery connects back to the earlier hallucinations of swarming flies, reinforcing the cyclical nature of the threat.

  • ending
  • demon
  • death
  • incinerator
  • fly
  • ambiguous
Q10

Why does Megan push Hannah into the incinerator?

Megan pushes Hannah's body into the incinerator because she realizes the regeneration makes the body nearly impossible to destroy by conventional means. After witnessing Ernie's brutal murder and with the demon threatening to unleash its full power, she uses the incinerator as a last resort to ensure the body, and the entity within, is destroyed completely.

Foreshadowing: The discovery of the regeneration earlier directly informs this desperate final action.

  • incinerator
  • shoot
  • push
  • destroy
  • final confrontation

Movie threads

More Movies Like The Possession of Hannah Grace, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes The Possession of Hannah Grace tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Claustrophobic night shift horror movies like The Possession of Hannah Grace

Stories where isolated night workers are hunted by a lurking evil. If you liked the tense, isolated terror of 'The Possession of Hannah Grace,' discover more movies about characters fighting for survival during a lonely night shift. These films share a claustrophobic, single-location feel and a steady, dreadful build-up of supernatural or psychological threats.

  • claustrophobic
  • anxious
  • isolated
  • terrifying
  • desperate
  • oppressive
  • Tone: dark, tense
  • Pacing: steady, methodical
Why these movies?

The story pattern: These narratives typically follow a linear survival plot where a solitary protagonist, often with a troubled past, must endure a single night of escalating horrors. The confined space becomes a character itself, amplifying every sound and shadow. The plot steadily escalates from unsettling occurrences to direct, life-or-death confrontations, testing the character's resilience and sanity.

Why they belong together: Movies in this thread are grouped by their shared setting and mood: the oppressive atmosphere of working alone at night, the slow-building tension of a contained threat, and the desperate fight for survival against an encroaching evil. They deliver a specific brand of anxiety rooted in isolation and vulnerability.

Supernatural horror movies about trauma and recovery like The Possession of Hannah Grace

Characters whose personal demons become entwined with a literal evil. For viewers who appreciated the heavy emotional weight and themes of trauma in 'The Possession of Hannah Grace,' this thread highlights horror films where characters grapple with their past while facing a supernatural menace. These movies blend personal despair with otherworldly terror for a deeply resonant experience.

  • heavy
  • desperate
  • anxious
  • psychological
  • traumatic
  • unsettling
  • Tone: dark, heavy
  • Pacing: steady, character-driven
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative pattern involves a protagonist whose journey is twofold: battling a tangible evil while simultaneously fighting their own internal battles. The supernatural events often mirror or exaggerate their psychological wounds, making the conflict intensely personal. The character arc is about survival in its truest sense—overcoming both the monster and the memories that haunt them.

Why they belong together: These films are grouped together because they use the horror genre to explore profound themes of trauma, recovery, and resilience. The shared experience is one of emotional heaviness, where the scares are amplified by the character's vulnerable psychological state, creating a more impactful and unsettling viewing experience.

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Every angle

The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018) Explained: Plot, Timeline & Characters

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