Mike Flanagan Calls Surreal and Shocking Streaming Gem: “One of My All-Time Favorites”
Every once in a while, a film arrives that is so shocking, so bold, so wildly original, that it leaves audiences dumbfounded and unable to process it. I think of them as Sirens. Provocative tales that lure us in with a unique beauty, only to bash us over the head with abject horror that sears itself into our minds forever. One such film has caught the attention of horror fans everywhere over the last decade, with even Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep) singing its praises…Possession.
Inspired by the grief of his own divorce, Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession aims to capture all the rage, heartache, and horror that go hand in hand with separation. The filmmaker cranks each emotion up to eleven, weaponizing them into a hot blade that cuts right through the audience like awe-struck butter. What results is a film unlike anything you’ve seen before, with a power that has continued to scream through the last four decades. And if you haven’t yet experienced the jaw-dropping horror, you can currently stream it on Shudder.
What’s Possession About?
Mark (Sam Neill), a spy, has just returned from West Berlin only to learn that his wife, Anna (Isabelle Adjani), wants a divorce. She reveals that she has another lover, one who satisfies her in ways that Mark no longer can. Angered by the discovery, the possessive husband hires a private investigator to follow his wife. But neither is prepared for the dark secret that Anna has been harboring, a tentacled creature hungry for sexual passion…and the occasional bloodshed.
What Does Mike Flanagan Have to Say?
In his review on Letterboxd, brilliant filmmaker Mike Flanagan describes Possession as, “One of my all-time favorites. There’s really no other movie like it. Zulawski’s visceral, unclassifiable exploration of love and divorce plays like an actual fever dream and Isabelle Adjani is nothing short of stunning in the role. This is fearless, fascinating cinema.”
Possession presents itself as a tale that you feel more than you understand…at least the first time around. Ever been through a bad breakup? Zulawski mines the raw emotion of that trauma into two hours of screaming, sex, and seductive murder. Think of it like a boxing ring, where the filmmaker pits Mark and Anna against each other in a fight to the death. After all, what is divorce if not the brutal end of something?
Gripping and painfully honest as Zulawski’s script is, Possession would be a shadow of itself if not for the performances of Neill and Adjani. In particular, Adjani. Neill delivers what may be the most intense performance of his career, but Adjani assures you leave the film in awe. Upon seeing it for the first time, the actress referred to Possession as “psychological pornography,” claiming that “the camera has no right to go that deep down in the soul.” You’ll know what she means when you witness for yourself the primal depths that she reaches onscreen. The tunnel scene has become iconic, recently referenced by The First Omen. Adjani took home the Best Actress award during the 1981 Cannes Film Festival for good reason.
Once lost to time, Possession has clawed its way back into the peripherals of horror fans as an astonishing gem that takes no prisoners. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and once you watch the film on Shudder, you’ll likely feel the same. But do yourself a favor: don’t make it your next date movie unless you want to feel unbearably awkward afterward.
Categorized: Streaming News
