Possession (1981 film)



Possession is a 1981 Euroshlock horror film. It was directed by Polish director Andrzej Zulawski and stars a young Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani.

Mark (Neill), a secret agent, returns from an overseas assignment to discover that his wife Anna (Adjani) has left him. After she disappears, abandoning their child in her apartment, Mark manages to track down his wife's lover. He turns out to be Heinrich: a swinger who knows kung fu and lives with his mother. However, Heinrich also hasn't seen Anna for weeks. Together, the two men track down Anna's new lover, a lover that might not even be human...

More of an arthouse feature than a horror film, Possession was nonetheless banned as a Video Nasty in the UK, most likely due to Carlos Rambaldi's impressively goopy effects, which still hold up quite well today. It's currently available uncut on DVD.

It's really, really weird.

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This film provides examples of:

 * Cut and Paste Translation: The US cut of the film was edited down from 127 to 81 minutes and had spookier music added in an attempt pass it off as a straight horror film. Whether this improved the film or made it worse is a matter of debate.
 * Chekhov's Gun
 * Downer Ending
 * Dysfunction Junction
 * Fan Disservice
 * Go Mad From the Revelation
 * Mind Screw
 * Psychotic Cutie
 * Surreal Horror
 * Video Nasty
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic
 * Video Nasty
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic