Director – Brandon Cronenberg (Broken Tulips, Antiviral)
Starring – Gabrielle Graham (The Expanse, In the Shadow of the Moon), Hanneke Talbot (Titans, Star Trek: Discovery), and Matthew Garlick (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Incorporated)
Release Date – 2020
Rating – 2.5/5
Several years ago I was doing my normal movie hunt where I stop at various stores looking for any movies I didn’t already own. I usually stop at a few pawn shops, thrift stores, and random big box stores like Dollar General just to dig through what they had. It was on one of these many trips that I found the horror flick Antiviral super cheap. I checked it out and was pretty indifferent about it. I really liked the story and what Cronenberg was going for but the movie itself was painfully slow and dull.
I’m trying not to compare filmmaker Brandon with his father but I’m a huge fan of David Cronenberg but Brandon’s films don’t hit me like his father’s does. When Possessor was released I was skeptical but the trailer really sold me on it and I couldn’t wait to check it out. I want to thank Well Go USA for sending over a review copy for me to check out.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a woman who is an agent for a secret organization that uploads their agent’s consciousness into a target to control, or possess, them in order to assassinate their targets. However, on this jump the target starts to become aware and their minds start to melt together. Her memories becomes his so he sets out to track down her family to exact revenge on her for killing his family. **Spoiler Alert**
Brandon Cronenberg, much like his father, has a sense of style that sets him apart from other filmmakers. He has an eye for cinematography and his stories are very unique. However, these movies are not really for me. They are beautifully shot and stories that really goes beyond what most movies could only dream of but they bore me. Antiviral was well written and well shot but the story was just so dull. Possessor is the same. It had a very interesting story but the scenes and dialogue just slowed the pacing down to a crawl. I just couldn’t get into this one.
The acting in this one is fairly decent. The characters are pretty much flat but the cast does the best with what they were given. They get into character and deliver some solid performances.
The story for this one could have been inspired by his father’s film Existenz which follows virtual reality games with a similar premise. With that being said, having assassins control people to kill for them is fucking amazing. I really like that take on the film which really meshes the horror and sci-fi genres in an unexpected way. With that being said, the film is pretty dull. We do get some great action scenes at random moments but these don’t save the film.
Finally, this film has some extremely bloody and graphic death scenes which were my favorite aspects of the film. The deaths are nothing we haven’t seen before but Cronenberg is not afraid of a little blood. He made sure the viewer got their fill of the carnage. We got some great practical effects and some really enjoyable death scenes. Overall, Possessor just wasn’t for me. It’s not a bad movie but the slow moving scenes and beautiful cinematography just couldn’t hold my attention. I can understand why he is trying to distance himself from his father but I feel the story here was not fully explored to enjoy it. The death scenes are enjoyable but that’s not enough to save it for me.
