POSSESSOR (2020) (Second Sight Films 4K UHD + Blu-ray Review)

POSSESSOR (2020)

Label: Second Sight Films 

Region Code: Region-Free

Rating: 

Duration: 114 Minutes 

Audio: English DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles 

Video: 2160p UHD Widescreen (1.78:1) 

Director: Brandon Cronenberg 

Cast: Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Rossif Sutherland, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean, Jennifer Jason Leigh

In Brandon Cronenberg's sophomore film Possessor (2020) we have a secret black ops organization who carry-out next-level assassinations through a body-implant technology that allows a "possessor" to inhabit and control the mind of a host body. This tech allows them to get close to a high-profile target and take them out from within. The film opens with a scene of a contract killer named Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough, Oblivion) inhabiting the mind of a young black woman (shades of Get Out?), we see her insert a probe into the hosts skull and use some sort of recalibration device to help her maintain control of the host body and emotions. A short time later the young woman enters a club where she brutally attacks and kills the intended target in a very bloody and violent attack. After the successful hit Vos's handler Girder (Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight) becomes concerned as Vos strayed from the plan, stabbing the victim instead of shooting them, and then proving unable to kill herself with a gunshot to the head, which is how the "possessor" is supposed to sever the connection to the host.

Not surprisingly inhabiting the mind of a host is not without inherent risk to the "possessor", the human will is strong and in forcefully suppressing it risks losing their sense of identity during each possession. Girder debriefs her afterward, running her through a battery of memory-tests that confirm her memories are in fact her own. Though she passes the tests Vos is clearly struggling in her personal life, the strain being a clandestine assassin having estranged her from her husband Michael (Rossif Sutherland, TV's Reign) and their young son Ira (Gage Graham-Arbuthnot). We see her visit with them for dinner later that night, before she enters the home she stands outside the door awkwardly rehearsing the greeting and polite conversation she will engage in with them, her connection to them seems to be slipping away and even this casual effort to connect with them is difficult for her.

Later she is assigned a new high-profile target, John Parse (Sean Bean, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring), the wealthy CEO of a powerful data-mining company and his daughter Ava (Tuppence Middleton, Sense8). The host is to be Ava's boyfriend Colin Tate (Christopher Abbott, It Comes At Night), and we se how Vos does reconnaissance to prepare for the mission, observing Tate to learn his habits and speech patterns, and later Girders' operations team abducts him and surgically implants a neural probe into his skull. Vos is them placed in a VR-type headset in a lab that allows her to project her mind via the implant into that of the host. Girder remains close by to her physical body and is able to communicate with her and guide her through the mission. Possessing Tate's proves to be a challenging proposition, during it Vos begins to experience heightened emotions and visual distortions that threaten to derail the mission, with Oliver and Vos psychically battling for dominance over the host body.   

This flick is a cool piece of sci-fi that could be set in an alternate reality similar to our own, the technology is advanced but not so advanced that it boggles the mind, and it's all wrapped-up in a retro-futuristic veneer that brought to mind both Looper (2012) and It Follows (2014). The tech looks like it comes from the late-80's, it doesn't look too advanced, which I sort of liked. I also like other cool retro design flourishes like vintage cars and flip-phones, so it has a cool retro-futuristic flourishes, it's quite stylish in that respect. 

The cast is fantastic, particularly Riseborough and Abbot who do great work portraying characters being inhabiting and being inhabited by each other. You feel Vos becoming unglued from her own reality, her quiet breakdown chipping away at her control, and the struggle to maintain normalcy with her family is palpable. Meanwhile Abbot as Colin does solid work as someone within someone else's skin pretending to be someone else, the way he conveys the struggle within to maintain control, the duality of it, he sells it completely.

The film also has some strong violence, right from the opening scenes we see the host take out a target in a very bloody manner that will appeal to the gorehounds. Later a fire-poker is used to dispatch someone, the encounter which dislodges teeth and eye made for a difficult watch, the sound effects managing to churn my stomach just a little bit. The FX are of the practical variety throughout the film which was a nice treat, used to show not only the violence of the assassinations but also used to visualize the psychological internal struggle to maintain control of the host during a few surreal scenes that include ripping off someone's face and wearing it as a mask. 

Brandon Cronenberg didn't fall far from the family tree, he has a lot of his father's filmic DNA, exploring similar body-horror themes but with his own unique near-future sci-fi slant, and it makes for quite an engaging, visceral and often unsettling watch, definitely check it out.  

Audio/Video: Possessor (2020) arrives fully uncut on 4K Ultra HD (Region-Free) + Blu-ray (Region B) from Second Sight Films in 1080p HD framed in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby Vision/HDR color-grading approved by director Brandon Cronenberg and cinematographer Karim Hussain. Colors and contrast are consistently strong, though the look of the cinematography varies quite a bit by design with differing shades of color saturation and contrast, so it's hard to pin down the visuals, but it looks true to the original intent and is a visually stylistic watch. The Dolby Vision/HDR10 color-grading enhances the primaries quite nicely over the Blu-ray counterpart, with brilliant blue, orange and yellow hues that saturate a few scenes, which as described in one of the making-of extras were created through in-camera effect rather than through artificial color-grading in post-production, and they look great. Black levels are also pleasing, deep black with excellent contrast and shadow detail, and depth and clarity are consistently excellent. 

Audio comes by way of both English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. Dialogue is crisp and in the forefront, the surround mix is quite strong with good use of the directionals creating a sometimes dizzying sound spaces with a lot of nuance, and the more visceral scenes of violence punched up with some nerve-jangling, full-bodied directness. 

This Unfamiliar Life: a new interview with Brandon Cronenberg talks about the 8-year gap between Antiviral and Possessor, why it took so long, the genesis of the idea, making the short film Please Speak Continuously and Describe Your Experiences as They Come to You, early draft and financing troubles, and how the whole project was a bit messy. He also gets into the casting, some fun moments on set,  the editing style, and killing kids on-screen. 

The 27-min Inside the Machine: a new interview with Karim Hussain features Hussain speaking about his collaboration with Cronenberg, both personal and professional, talking about the technical aspect of filming, achieving the look of the Voss world versus the possession world. 

In the 24-min Feel the Real: a new interview with Rob Cotterill he talks about collaborating with Cronenberg after first working on Antiviral, describing Cronenberg as "science astute", the 24-day shoot, getting into how certain scenes were achieved, touching on the cast and how game Sean Bean was to everything (as long as it didn;t kill him), and Riseborough's method acting style, and how he wished they had one more day of practical effects shots, and how certain expensive locations were ultimately trashed in the edit, and extolling the virtues of cinematographer Karim Hussain.  

Disassociating from Mind and Body: Zoë Rose Smith on Possessor is a 24-min Video Essay, 6-min of trippy Camera Test Footage; a 10-min FX Show and Tell with Dan Martin (10:25) who shows of some of the gory practical special effects used in the film including some behind-the-scenes footage of the gore-gags, plus three three-part archival featurette that explore the look and visual aesthetic of the film, the actors exploring their roles, and a cool featurette that gives a closer look at the practical special effects of the film. We also get the 8-min of Deleted Scenes that explore Vos's mental instability as well as a strange interaction with the client who hired her; and the 9-min Short Film: Please Speak Continuously and Describe Your Experiences as They Come to You, plus the 1-min Trailer for the main feature. 

The 2-disc 4K UHD/Blu-ray release arrives in a sturdy Rigid Slipcase with terrific face-melting artwork by artist Marko Manev, inside the 2-discs are housed in a gatefold digipak with clear plastic trays featuring it's own unique artwork, actually a gatefold image from the film. Also tucked away inside the slipbox is a with a 120-Page Squareback Book featuring extensive behind the scenes gallery and images, script-to-screen comparisons, new essays by Stacey Abbott, Anton Bitel, Jon Towlson and Heather Wixson, plus Six Collectors' Art Cards featuring a mix of Marko Manev artwork and images from the film. 

Special Features:
- Dual format edition including both UHD and Blu-ray with main feature and bonus features on both discs
- UHD presented in Dolby Vision HDR approved by director Brandon Cronenberg and cinematographer Karim Hussain
- New audio commentary with Brandon Cronenberg, producer Rob Cotterill, Karim Hussain and Special Effects Artist Dan Martin
- This Unfamiliar Life: a new interview with Brandon Cronenberg (21:03) 
- Inside the Machine: a new interview with Karim Hussain (27:05) 
- Feel the Real: a new interview with Rob Cotterill (24:01) 
- Disassociating from Mind and Body: Zoë Rose Smith on Possessor (24:08) 
- Camera Test Footage (6:01) 
- FX Show and Tell with Dan Martin (10:25) 
- Archive featurette: A Heightened World - A Look at Possessor (10:27) 
- Archive featurette: Identity Crisis - Bringing Possessor to Life (14:39) 
-Archive featurette: The Joy of Practical - The Effects of Possessor (13:08) 
- Deleted Scenes (8:11) 
- Short Film: Please Speak Continuously and Describe Your Experiences as They Come to You (9:32) 
-Trailer (1:09) 

Limited Edition Contents:
- Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Marko Manev
- 120-page book featuring extensive behind the scenes gallery, script-to-screen comparisons, new essays by
Stacey Abbott, Anton Bitel, Jon Towlson and Heather Wixson
- Six collectors' art cards

Brandon Cronenberg's Possessor (2020) is a mind-bending and ultra-violent slice of scary near-future sci-fi that posits a lot of cool ideas into an engaging storyline about an assassin witht he ability to control other people's bodies using brain implant technology, so far it's my favorite of his films, the apple didn't fall far from the tree with him, he's a Cronenberg for sure! Second Sight Films Limited Edition 4K UHD is a stunner, we get a top-notch Dolby Vision/HDR10 enhanced A/V presentation plus a wealth of archival and new extras that dive deep into the making of the flick from many of the key players, this is an all around excellent release that would be pretty hard to ever top.