'Possession' - Film Analysis
Possession: noun - 1) the state of having, owning, or controlling something. 2) the state of being controlled by a demon or spirit. There are few things within the human experience as potentially painful, traumatic, or devastating as divorce. The severing of a union made in happier times, no matter how mutually beneficial, is an affair that leaves its mark upon both partners. Tempers flare and accusations fly as resentment and suspicion reign supreme. It is perhaps then no mistake that one of horror’s most overlooked films, the psychological /supernatural thriller Possession (1981) , deals almost exclusively with this theme. While other horror films such as Night of the Living Dead or The Purge may speak to allegories of political and societal dysfunction, Possession ’s boundaries lay firmly within that of the familial unit -- through the eyes of our protagonists, we witness those whom we once loved transforming into something hideous. B