Featured Audience Ratings

• Reid V

  
  Ever had the top of your skull removed while an overweight man repeatedly stabbed your cerebral cortex with a crescent wrench? No you say? Well then grab the family, kick those feet up on the ottoman, and brace yourself for some masochistic brain torture. Director Andrzej… More
  Ever had the top of your skull removed while an overweight man repeatedly stabbed your cerebral cortex with a crescent wrench? No you say? Well then grab the family, kick those feet up on the ottoman, and brace yourself for some masochistic brain torture. Director Andrzej Zulawskiâ's frenzied nightmare regarding a deteriorating marriage is an absurd carnival of agony. One that can best be described as a violent hallucination caught on film. When a man sets out to understand the reasons for his wife's infidelity, he ends up finding a lot more than he bargained for. And I mean a lot more. Even if I told you more about the plot, the film would not be spoiled. It truly needs to be seen to be believed. Should you choose to subject yourself to it. When I read that Zulawski wrote the screenplay while in the midst of a messy divorce, I was not the least bit surprised. Much like David Cronenberg's The Brood, there is a palpable pain that permeates this lurid tale. Why do we inflict such excruciating pain on the ones we claim to love? This is just one of the many questions the film brings to the surface. It joins the ranks of other equally important questions such as âwhat in the world is with that subway scene?â and âdid I just see a tentacle?â� This bizarre story is accompanied by wild camera work. Zulawski employs dizzying long takes, crazed hand-held camerawork, and frenetic editing. Making the experience all the more eccentric. Also, Sam Neill works his way through the material with the same ease and grace as a middle school student reading King Lear out loud for the first time. (One that desperately wants to impress the teacher and cares little for subtlety) I like to pretend that seconds before shooting a scene, Neill was told that his family would be slaughtered if he didn't overact. It made his performance easier to understand. At one point in the film, Neill's wife Anna states that Goodness is some kind of reflection upon evil. Much like the film itself, I am not quite sure what it means. Hell I don't even know if Zulawski knows what it means exactly. There are myriad ways to read this film and should I find myself able to muster up the courage to watch it again, id love to better understand what Zulawski is trying to say here. Until then, i'll just enjoy the night terrors that are sure to come as a result of watching Possession.

• Aditya G

  
  In one scene in Andrzej Zulawski's "cult" horror thriller, "Possession" (1981), Sam Neill's character Mark tells Isabelle Adjani's character Anna, "I think of you as an animal, or a woman possessed..."! It wouldn't be entirely… More
  In one scene in Andrzej Zulawski's "cult" horror thriller, "Possession" (1981), Sam Neill's character Mark tells Isabelle Adjani's character Anna, "I think of you as an animal, or a woman possessed..."! It wouldn't be entirely inappropriate to say that this is true of almost all the characters in this substandard mess of a horror film cum "intense" drama, for all the primary characters behave like mentally deranged morons or appear stoned whenever they are on screen. [img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-V6-cpiuZh4w/T8OAMNP-AHI/AAAAAAAACqU/-CZu0-bpUCY/s481/vlcsnap-2012-05-27-09h49m03s120.jpg[/img] We begin with a creepy background score during the title credits when Mark (Sam Neill, at his very worst) arrives from "far away", back to his son Bob (Michael Hogben) and wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani). Their first meeting after a seemingly huge gap seems awkward; all is clearly not well with their marriage. Later there is some vague talk between the couple, trying to explain the lack of intimacy. "There is always someone else, when these things happen", Mark insinuates that Anna is being unfaithful. She denies in the beginning, but later admits to having an affair. A shattered Mark soon finds out that it is a man named Heinrich (Heinz Bennet), an Anthony Hopkins lookalike, sexually ambiguous character. But Heinrich and his mother both admit that they haven't seen Anna for "weeks"! The mystery deepens and there could be something/someone else contributing to Anna's continuous absence and increasingly erratic behavior. Mark hires a private detective Zimmerman (Shaun Lawton) to follow Anna and very soon a bizarre secret is unearthed, which is somehow linked to a mysterious tentacled monster..... [img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OeHafLw_FEQ/T8OAPUXKiGI/AAAAAAAACpI/KbnuCnOqk7s/s608/vlcsnap-2012-05-27-10h17m00s246.jpg[/img] "Possession" begins on an alarmingly wrong note. The horrible dialog and the actors' over-the-top dialog delivery are largely to blame. A serious conversation seems very dramatic, awkward and fake and therein lies the biggest problem with this film. Senseless ramblings and non sequiturs abound! The lead characters are going through a bitter married relationship, yet one fails to connect to them or feel any sympathy, thanks to the abysmally bad acting, especially by Sam Neill! He is horrendous here, and while Neill's later performances are quite good, he is simply unbearable in this early acting venture of his. Then there is Isabelle Adjani who can emote very well in some scenes, but again, falls flat while delivering some vital lines of dialog. And when she isn't doing that, she is mostly convulsing hysterically and trying hard to be the scream queen of the century. There is so much of cacophony, fighting and yelling, bickering and beating about throughout the film that it eventually gets on the nerves! It is just too jarring, shrill and unintentionally comic at times to be taken any seriously! A lookalike (a doppelganger?) of Anna shows up as a green-eyed, more quiet Helen (Adjani again) who is a teacher to Bob. It is with this role that Adjani gets to have a breather for a change, because otherwise it must've been a hell of a tiring shoot for her, shredding her vocal cords off and throwing herself all over the set! [img]https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Xh4Vm5VfIPA/T8OAULupTqI/AAAAAAAACqM/mjgCJ9ajEOA/s368/vlcsnap-2012-05-27-10h42m53s127.jpg[/img] The film's plot has an ambiguous nature. A lot of vague information is exchanged; fleeting mentions of "pink socks", "faith", "chance" and "divinity". The happenings in the film aren't supposed to be taken in the literal sense. There is supposed to be some deeply allegorical meaning within, pertaining to marriage and divorce and finding God and happiness; yet any kind of interest to find a deeper meaning is overshadowed, thanks to the god-awful script and the embarrassing situations Zulawski puts his actors into. Imagine making all of them act like they do, it boggles the mind. Heinz Bennet is another such actor whose Heinrich character seems to be perpetually stoned and delivers lines of dialog as if he is delivering a sermon, rehearsed too! A couple more characters like Margit Gluckmeister (Margit Cartensen), Anna's best friend, and a detective (Carl Duering) sent to find out Anna's whereabouts, do their bits in being the jesters in this circus of madness. Caricature-like characterization, to a great extent, and a substantial lack of suspense mar any prospects the film otherwise had owing to its intricate plot which is again, mostly incoherent in the preliminary viewing but makes some weird sense after a bit of analysis. [img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-yAFsNG2xq84/T8OAWYhJdEI/AAAAAAAACqQ/BFqg5umhNg0/s436/vlcsnap-2012-05-27-11h04m00s37.jpg[/img] And then there is the "creature" (no spoilers there; the creature and its special effects creator, Carlo Rambaldi are already announced in the title credits); a slimy octopus-like monster that appears in some 3-4 scenes. But unlike other B-horror films in which such creatures usually slither around, attacking people, this creature just sits there, which is a welcome relief. Its origin and purpose of existence become clearer as the blood-soaked climax of the film approaches. There are a few redeeming qualities in "Possession", like the aforementioned, deliberately equivocal plot that offers some good food for thought and room for multiple interpretations, and a couple disturbing moments, like the scene in the subway when Anna experiences a violent seizure of sorts like she is possessed by an unseen power...a terrific display of an uninhibited and energetic performance in that one scene wins Adjani all the points she deserves (and only she deserves points, if at all) in this otherwise doomed venture. Score: 5/10. [img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Q0QYliM4RRA/T8OAQqIAAUI/AAAAAAAACpQ/bos9HEz3TrI/s608/vlcsnap-2012-05-27-10h38m11s163.jpg[/img]

• Emil K

  
  Zulawski is totally in his own league when it comes to acting. These are by far the best performances that Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani have ever give us. Problem here is that it reaches too high, with too many ideas. What could have been great psychological thriller turns all too… More
  Zulawski is totally in his own league when it comes to acting. These are by far the best performances that Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani have ever give us. Problem here is that it reaches too high, with too many ideas. What could have been great psychological thriller turns all too quickly into something totally bonkers with dated creature effects by Carlo Rambaldi. It is still interesting as all Zulawskis films.

• Stephen M

  
  Funny, I don't remember him being so bad in <i>Omen III: The Final Conflict</i>, but having watched John Carpenter's <i>In the Mouth of Madness</i> and Andrzej Zulawski's <i>Possession</i> in recent succession, I'm now of the… More
  Funny, I don't remember him being so bad in <i>Omen III: The Final Conflict</i>, but having watched John Carpenter's <i>In the Mouth of Madness</i> and Andrzej Zulawski's <i>Possession</i> in recent succession, I'm now of the firm opinion that Sam Neill should be forcibly restrained from making any more horror movies; they bring out the hammy worst in the man. Nevertheless, even Neill is upstaged here by the extraordinary supporting performance - and I don't intend that as a compliment - of Heinz Bennent, quite the most entertaining piece of scenery-chewing I have witnessed in a good long while. This wasn't too bad a movie, actually: the atmosphere is nicely oppressive, Isabelle Adjani certainly throws herself into her role and the restless camerawork is marvellous throughout. What the film lacks, however, is a little subtlety and a lot of control; it's shrill and hysterical from beginning to end, often comically so. It's very apt that <i>Possession</i> is frequently compared to David Cronenberg's <i>The Brood</i> - and there are, indeed, similarities - because Cronenberg immediately springs to mind when one considers which other director might have been able to make a better movie out of this; Polanski is another.

• Carlos M

  
  No one can deny that this film is quite bold and unpredictable in all its mind-blowing weirdness, but Zulawski really fails in his attempt to confer a serious, Bergmanian meaning to a story that clearly emulates the narrative style of Polanski and Cronenberg.

• familiar s

  
  Those who like symbolism & weird stuff are more likely to enjoy this movie.

• Walter M

  
  In "Possession," Mark(Sam Neill, impossibly young) is a government contractor who is not signing up for another tour of duty, so he can spend more time with his wife Anna(Isabelle Adjani, impossibly beautiful) and their son Bob(Michael Hogben) in West Berlin. On the one… More
  In "Possession," Mark(Sam Neill, impossibly young) is a government contractor who is not signing up for another tour of duty, so he can spend more time with his wife Anna(Isabelle Adjani, impossibly beautiful) and their son Bob(Michael Hogben) in West Berlin. On the one hand, this is good news for Anna since her only friend is Margit(Margit Carstensen). On the other hand, she has been having an affair with Heinrich(Heinz Bennent), who when confronted by Mark, proves that he can take care of himself. So Mark wants none of it, going so far as intending to surrender all custodial rights of Bob... "Possession" tries so hard to be shocking that it is hard to take much of it seriously or to accept the events in the movie as really happening.(Contrast that with the films of David Cronenberg whose level of emotional mastery manages to keep it real and creepy.) That's not a huge problem as one could make a case for it all being Mark's fevered imagination during a complete breakdown after the dissolution of his marriage. He imagines two Annas, one that is crazy and hateful in blue while another that reminds him of the woman he once loved in white. That's not to mention the nightmares he has of being replaced. In this nightmare world of blue and gray, there is also the reality of the divided Berlin of the Cold War where I wonder what the East German soldiers think of the crazy capitalists across the way where the gay couple is the most stable one in the movie. But then what is up with the pink socks?

• Joey S

  
  Possession is weird. Really really weird. It doesn't fit cleanly into any single genre, but it could be loosely classified as a bizarre drama mixed with a horror film, with a tentacle monster thrown in for good measure. It's about Marc and Anna, a husband and wife (played by… More
  Possession is weird. Really really weird. It doesn't fit cleanly into any single genre, but it could be loosely classified as a bizarre drama mixed with a horror film, with a tentacle monster thrown in for good measure. It's about Marc and Anna, a husband and wife (played by Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani) whose relationship falls rapidly apart when the wife spontaneously decides she wants a divorce, insisting that it's not because she's found another man. However, after a bit of obsessive sleuthing Marc discovers that she is having an affair with a German man named Heinrich, along with a second affair with a disgusting creature living in the bathroom of her second apartment. If that sounds creepy and bizarre, it's even moreso than you would expect. The characters speak in dialogue that feels very odd at times and contains the occasional thought-provoking statement on religion. The discussion of religion didn't really make sense to me because I didn't sense any religious themes in the movie, but the dialogue is interesting and well-written nonetheless. Isabelle Adjani adds quite a bit of character to an already unusual movie by giving an absolutely insane performance that demands your attention just based on its sheer craziness. Imagine every Nicolas Cage freak-out combined into one character, and that's about 1/10 of the insanity that she puts into nearly every scene she's in. Adjani's especially shocking in one extraordinary scene in a tunnel in which she takes crazy acting to new heights. She basically spends the scene screaming at the top of her lungs, wildly flailing her arms, smashing her groceries against a wall, and finally emitting blood and other unidentifiable fluids from her ears and mouth. Needless to say the movie is rarely subtle. A lot of the movie is very confusing, and it's easy to get lost quickly with the plot which can be a little frustrating, but the movie has enough strong points and entertaining scenes to balance out the confusing plot and seemingly indecipherable meaning. Possession is far from a normal horror movie and it's even further from a normal drama, but for the miniscule audience that enjoys obscure movies involving extramarital affairs with mysterious tentacle beasts, it has just enough to make it worth checking out, but not necessarily a must-see movie.

• Francisco G

  
  So, am I supposed to feel frustrated and extremely annoyed by the end of the movie, because that's the way the director thinks we should feel like about the breakdown of a marriage? Congrats, mission accomplished, you've just made an unbearable movie. It tried to be riddled… More
  So, am I supposed to feel frustrated and extremely annoyed by the end of the movie, because that's the way the director thinks we should feel like about the breakdown of a marriage? Congrats, mission accomplished, you've just made an unbearable movie. It tried to be riddled with symbolism about relationships, commitment, betrayal, faithfullness but it's just pretentious beyond words and uses completly derivative imagery to achieve such goals. Most of them completly excused, repetitive and add nothing to the "point" of the movie. Plus, it's a really ugly movie to look at: bland, horrible use of steadycam and travel shots, toneless soundtrack and list can go on indefinently. And the horror twist everyone talks about? Really, that's the big selling for you guys? I'm not even gonna start on that. It's so anti climatic everytime it happens, it just looses the impact it should have and goes into exploitative territory very quickly in the end. Now let's get to the worse of it. The acting. Now THAT Mr. Zulawski is an accomplishment on itself. How to use two magnificent actors so poorly is beyond words. Worse is probably how they went along with this. Adjani just gets annoying beyond anything you can conceive. On the first half, she's a scream queen, on the second, words just can't describe how ridiculous things go. Also props for the hilarious german lover which is something that really needs to be witnessed. It certainly is interesting the way it explores the themes at hand but the execution is so ridiculous that the train derails really quickly. I've had my share of experimental, heavy symbolic ridden flicks and boy do I love to explore them when they're done well. Look at Jodorowski, look at Cronenberg, look at Lynch. This is just pretentious garbage.

• Quinto W

  
  It's a testament to how good Isabelle Adjani's performance is that she gets away with some of the most ridiculous moments in the film, her commitment to the role completely selling you her character. This is an interesting character study, very reminiscent of Cronenberg,… More
  It's a testament to how good Isabelle Adjani's performance is that she gets away with some of the most ridiculous moments in the film, her commitment to the role completely selling you her character. This is an interesting character study, very reminiscent of Cronenberg, that however gets bogged down by its dull pacing.

• Ed Fucking H

  
  This surreal video nasty seems to divide most audiences. Meaning you'll either love it or hate it, and very few sit on the fence with this one. Some people complain that the performances are over the top, I for one think they fit the film as a whole perfectly. Isabella Adjani,… More
  This surreal video nasty seems to divide most audiences. Meaning you'll either love it or hate it, and very few sit on the fence with this one. Some people complain that the performances are over the top, I for one think they fit the film as a whole perfectly. Isabella Adjani, Sam Neill and Heinz Bennent all put forth incredible performances. Especially Adjani... who could ever forget that scene in the subway tunnel. Others complain that the film just doesn't make any sense. As far as that acsation goes there is some merit to it, but I think that it is an irrelevent complaint anyways. I would say that this film is in the tradition of David Lynch, David Cronenberg and filmmakers of that ilk. Their films aren't always logical, but are concerned more with symbolism, than tightly knit stories. That being said I'm not going to pretend to know exactly what this film was about after only one screening. What I can say is that the atmosphere, performances, tone and imagery were undeniable and had me hooked throughout the film. Definently a film that stands on it's own and avoids easy comparison to any other films that I'm aware of. Definently out of place on the video nasty list. Highly recommended for fans of original and intelligent horror.

• John M

  
  "Possession" certainly is an bizarre unforgettable film experience, maybe even a must-see for every true cineaste. Still, I cannot quite see it as the masterpiece that some of my fellow cult-cinema fans seem to regard it. I watch the unrated version which has the reputation… More
  "Possession" certainly is an bizarre unforgettable film experience, maybe even a must-see for every true cineaste. Still, I cannot quite see it as the masterpiece that some of my fellow cult-cinema fans seem to regard it. I watch the unrated version which has the reputation of being very gory and perverted, which even landed it on the UK's infamous Video Nasty List but except for one very gross scene, however, the film isn't really exceptionally gory, and the perversity is mostly suggested rather than show.

• Christopher B

  
  Heinrich is one of the greatest movie villains of all time. Great surreal horror film.

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