Possession (1981 film)
Possession (1981), AKA The Night the Screaming Stops
Summary
"She created a monster as her secret lover!" A woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.
Details
- Release Date: 1981
- Country/Language: France/Germany/Poland, English French and German
- Genres/Technical: Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Art/Experimental
- Setting: Germany, Cold War era (1970s to 1980s)
- Runtime: 2 hr 24 min
- Starring: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen
- Director: Andrzej Zulawski
- Writer: Andrzej Zulawski
- Producer/Production Co: Gaumont, Oliane Productions, Marianne Productions
- View Trailer: (link)
- TVTropes: (link)
- IMDB Page: (link)
Ratings
MPAA Ratings
- Rated: R (Violence, Adult Content, Nudity, Sexual Content, Profanity)
Tentacle Ratings
A rough measure of how "Lovecraftian" the work is:
- Ss___ (One and a Half Tentacles: Barely Lovecraftian; vaguely similar in tone)
With some of the surrealist art/experimental aspects of the sort of films I've been categorizing under "eldritch locations", a Tentacle Monster, and perhaps a sort of Lovecraftian fear of alien miscegenation, the film will likely hit the "Lovecraftian" buttons of a variety of all but the most "Lovecraftian purist" viewers.
Note: This rating is not intended as a measure of quality, merely of how closely related to Lovecraftian "Weird" fiction the work is.
Reviews
Review Links:
- Horror-Movie-a-Day, (link) - "The greatest compliment I can give the film is that I actually forgot I was watching a "horror movie" for the first 45 minutes or whatever it is until the monster first appears."
- Cameron Richardson at Camerons Pit of Terror (4/10) (link) - "I can’t say it’s an objectively bad film, as the main cast are excellent while the director has given great care to planting countless pieces to the puzzle that is the purpose of the film... However my view is that a film shouldn’t require this cross-examination and, to an extent guesswork, to be able to say what it was even about; the best films I think make some level of sense on a first watch..."
- Richard Scheib at the Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review (1/5 Stars) (link) - "Andrzej Zulawski feels like he has much he wants to say. Symbolism – The Berlin Wall representing divisions, everybody seeks perfected clone versions of the other – often looms as though he is pointing a big arrow at it. However, what he is trying to make a film about is not at all clear – marriage breakup? an out-and-out horror film? monsters from the Id? There is so much going on that everything eventually collapses into symbolic overkill, not to mention narrative incoherence."
- Dave Sindelar at Fantastic Movie Musings (link) - "Given the fact that it's something of an art film, you might find yourself suspecting the horror classification will turn out to be something of a false lead; certainly, the first forty-five minutes will lead you to be believe this is mainly an intense and sometimes shrill divorce drama. It's only when you find out what's inside the wife's new apartment that the film takes its turn into horror..."
- John Townsend at the Horror Asylum (4/5 Stars) (link) - "There is no doubt that anyone watching this film will come out the other end knowing they have just had an intensely dark experience and I can imagine the imagery staying with people for some time. I would be surprised if there was any film to rival Possession as a psychological event. This is not necessarily a film to be enjoyed but is definitely one to be respected."
Synopsis (SPOILERS)
Spoiler Section (Highlight to Read)
After Anna reveals to her husband, Mark, that she is having an affair, she leaves him and their son. Mark is devastated, and seeks out Heinrich, the man who cuckolded him, only to receive a beating. After a series of violent confrontations between Mark and Anna, Mark hires a private investigator to follow her. Anna descends into madness, and it's soon clear that she is hiding a much bigger secret - one that is both inexplicable and shocking: a lover that might not even be human....
Notes
Comments, Trivia, Dedication
Associated Mythos Elements
- race: Tentacle Monster
Keeper Notes
