Possessor
Directed by Brandon Cronenberg
- horror
- thriller
- science fiction
The story
Tasya Vos, an elite corporate assassin, uses brain-implant technology to take control of other people’s bodies to terminate high profile targets. As she sinks deeper into her latest assignment, Vos becomes trapped inside a mind that threatens to obliterate her.
What it’s like
Cold, clinical surfaces and tightly controlled symmetry give way to something feverish: sleek modernist interiors in flat, desaturated blues and greys, glossy reflections on glass and chrome, and close, unblinking framing that keeps faces pressed right up to the lens. Handheld work and sudden lurches into hallucination make the frame feel unstable, while the synth-and-drone score swells and hums under long stretches of near-silence, so the sound itself seems to tilt out of true. Its vibe is clammy dread and identity unravelling, the kind of unsettling watch suited to a late night alone when you want to feel the floor shift. Pacing is taut and deliberate, building through long, tense sequences toward abrupt, sharp bursts of violence. The emotional register is cold and dissociated, following a woman whose sense of self frays as the lines between her own mind and another's blur. Intensity is high: frequent graphic gore, multiple stabbings, shootings and murder, with bodily horror and psychological cruelty that land hard and linger. It is for viewers who want cerebral, visceral science fiction and can stomach brutal, body-focused violence.
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