The Big Picture

• Possessor is a brutal, thought-provoking sci-fi horror film that pushes boundaries with a unique concept and stunning visuals.
• Brandon Cronenberg showcases his talent as both a writer and director, delivering a grim, dystopian thriller that explores themes of technology and identity.
• The film's intense violence serves a purpose, contributing to a narrative that delves deep into societal issues and the dark side of human nature.

With Caitlin Cronenberg's Humane recently hitting theaters, there is another off-spring of genre legend David Cronenberg with a visionary, sci-fi horror movie that is worth revisiting: Brandon Cronenberg with Possessor. Possessor stars Andrea Riseborough as Tasya Vos, an assassin who takes out her targets through a futuristic process involving an implant that permits the user to take over another person's body for a period of time. The film also stars Christopher Abbott as Colin Tate, the man whose body Vos inhabits, and Jennifer Jason-Leigh and Sean Bean in respective supporting roles as Vos's supervisor and Tate's soon-to-be father-in-law who is Vos's next target.

This is Cronenberg's second feature, following Antiviral a few years prior, another movie with roots in horror and sci-fi. Possessor takes the genre to another level, with sickening VFX work and an ambitious science fiction narrative that never holds back. It is not a movie for squeamish audiences, but for the sickos out there, it is one of the greatest horror movies of this decade thus far. Cronenberg tackles themes of bodily autonomy, identity, surveillance, capitalism, and more with this tight, thoughtful film while delivering no shortage of thrills. Possessor is a smart, bold feature that shows us Cronenberg is here to stay. His follow-up, Infinity Pool, pushed the boundaries yet again and acts as a solid companion piece to this 2020 film. Possessor was released at a difficult time for the industry, marred by COVID-19-related closures and limited business in the theatrical market. Still, it is a film that will make a killer impression on anyone who can stomach it.

'Possessor' Deals With Similar Themes to David Cronenberg's Movies

It is true that Possessor traverses thematic and narrative fields that David Cronenberg's films often circle. David Cronenberg's filmography is, in large part, an examination of the intersections between sexuality, technology, and violence, and how the human body relates to all three. From Videodrome to eXistenZ and his recent, masterful return to form, Crimes of the Future, Cronenberg's body-horror work carved out a genre of its own. Possessor feels very much in conversation with that batch of work, but it would be unfair to reduce Brandon Cronenberg's film to a hollow retread of his father's work.

With Possessor, which Brandon Cronenberg also wrote, he proves his worth as both a writer and director. Anyone doubting that Possessor has merit separated from the legacy of this horror family name would surely think otherwise after the stunning, brutal, opening sequence. This prologue, with a thrilling, brief performance from Gabrielle Graham, depicts a cold, relentlessly violent murder that we learn is one of the many assassinations undertaken in Vos's work. This shows us exactly what we need to know about the methodology of the "possessors," from the technology they rely on to what their protocol dictates once the mission is complete.

Possessor is an original concept taken to the extreme, and Brandon Cronenberg has the directorial chops to bring this uniquely grim story to life on film. Cronenberg pulls great performances from the cast, especially Abbott, who is playing a dual role of sorts as both Tate and Vos's identities converge in an increasingly surreal fashion. The film's visual style is drenched in neon colors and stark lighting, and the production design offers a unique view into tools of a dystopian future we hope to avoid.

'Possessor' is a Provocative Dystopian Thriller, With Thoughtful Sci-Fi Themes Matched By Brutal Horror Violence

Like many great works of horror and science-fiction, Possessor does not simply shock your system with thrilling visuals but also provokes thematic elements that reflect our current world. Cronenberg's film largely addresses the ways that technology has an increasingly detrimental effect on our lives, especially in terms of how it detaches us from our humanity and our identities. Vos's arc is essentially that of a character who is seeing her humanity supplanted by her work. She is being trained by Jason-Leigh's character to become the perfect killing machine, with no familial or personal attachments or conscience — nothing but a drive to be as efficient as possible.

Tate's work is a mundane vision of a dystopian office job that feels scarily not too distant from our current reality, as he is employed at a tech company where he, from a VR cubicle, spies on people in order to track their behavior and better advertise consumer products to them. Tate is marked as a good candidate for the assassination of his fiancé's wealthy CEO father because Tate is a lowly office worker in this hellish environment who could reasonably be seen as resentful of his position. In a time when data mining and artificial intelligence continue to encroach upon our lives in concerning ways, Possessor's dystopian, alternate reality feels uncomfortably close to our own.

The relationships that Vos and Tate have with their jobs depict a fairly bleak reality where work persists through every facet of your life, where even your office environment is virtual because human connection is not good for the bottom line. The end result for our characters is just as bleak, as it feels as though Possessor posits that this type of society will either kill you or dull you into being a killer yourself. These themes are accentuated and brought to life with the provocative, explicit, and brutal imagery that plays out in the form of the film's many graphic sex scenes and moments of hyper-realistic violence and gore, all of which Vos is entirely desensitized to. There are eviscerations, close-range headshots, eyeballs, and teeth being gouged, but it is all just another day at the office for Vos.

Possessor is one of the gnarliest films within the body horror genre, but none of the violence is meaningless. It all informs a thoughtful narrative and fulfills a visionary approach to horror sci-fi filmmaking undertaken by Brandon Cronenberg. Possessor is a masterful piece of genre filmmaking that will leave you awestruck and queasy.

Possessor is available to stream on Tubi in the U.S.

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