Universal Monsters + Restored Halloween Classics Series Kicks Off With Possession

A divorcecore classic that sits comfortably in that rarefied intersection between psychotronic cult epic and extreme horror, Possession is a heightened tribute to sexual paranoia that anticipates the following 40 years of cinema in a stylish and brutal fashion. The 1981 film is a tad more egalitarian than Cronenberg’s The Brood, and infinitely realer than Kramer vs. Kramer — what co-writer and director Andrzej Żuławski does here is sort of like what Darren Aronofsky did with Black Swan decades later: combining several different narrative modes in a densely symbolic story that can be interpreted in different ways.

Characters include the businessman (Sam Neill) suspicious of the secrets in his own home; the woman (Isabelle Adjani, who won the César and the award at Cannes for Best Actress) determined to find a new life and new love; the child caught in the middle. All relatable, all taken to the highest of heights. But then the secret chthonic lover (designed by Carlo Rambaldi, who created E.T. and designed the mechanics of the xenomorph head in Alien) comes into the picture — along with possibly the nuclear end of the world — and you just sit back and soak in what is a symphony of raw nerves. This new 4K restoration allows a film kept as a secret held dear by arthouse devotees and horrorheads to find new life — claiming new eyes, new lives with each new viewing. Żuławski never made another English-language film after this one, granting it a certain singularity that bewitches and terrorizes like nothing else.

Possession will screen as part of the Belcourt’s ongoing Universal Monsters + Restored Halloween Classics series, which will also feature Creature From the Black Lagoon, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Blood for Dracula and a number of other greats. Visit this link to see the full lineup and get tickets.