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.

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?

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.