Possession
Possession is a 1981 film from France, directed by Andrzej Żuławski, running 123 minutes. reelscum files it under video nasty.
- Year
- 1981 · 1980s films
- Country
- France
- Runtime
- 123 min
- Director
- Andrzej Żuławski
- Updated
- 29 Oct 2026
- Obscurity
- known (18/100)
- Also known as
- The Night the Screaming Stops
- Banned in
- UK
Defined in the glossary: Video nasty
A DPP video nasty, an arthouse title swept up with the splatter for its subway-tunnel breakdown scene.
On the nasties list by pure bureaucratic accident. An actual masterpiece about divorce.
Zulawski's film ended up on the video nasty list by pure bureaucratic accident, because it is a European art film about a marriage collapsing, not a horror quickie. Then again, there is a creature, and Isabelle Adjani has a breakdown in a subway that is one of the most physically committed pieces of acting ever filmed.
It is about divorce the way a nightmare is about your day: everything heightened past breaking, nothing quite literal. Adjani won at Cannes for it and reportedly took years to recover.
Difficult, upsetting, and unlike anything else here.
Trailer
The numbers
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Where to watch
Legal options in USA
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The cycle in depth
- Banned, cut and confiscated
A Fulci print flown out of the country, an Australian rating that just means no, and a German court that filed The Evil Dead under criminal violence. Three states, three machines for making a film disappear.
- The Exorcist was banned on video in Britain by one censor
The Exorcist passed uncut for British cinemas in 1974, then had no legal UK video release from 1988 to 1999 because one censor would not certify the tape.
On these lists
- Better than their reputation
Prosecuted, banned, dismissed or filed on the wrong shelf. All of them are good.
Filed alongside
The Beyond
Makes no sense whatsoever and is Fulci's best film. Dream logic, fully committed.
Tenebrae
Argento's coldest and cleverest. That crane shot earns its reputation.
Zombi 2
A zombie fights a shark. Fulci's splinter shot is still the worst thing here.
The Hills Have Eyes
Craven's meanest. The suburban family turn out to be the better killers.
I Spit on Your Grave
The most argued-about film on this site. Read the glossary entry before deciding.
Cannibal Ferox
Lenzi chasing Deodato with none of the argument. Real animal deaths, no defence.
City of the Living Dead
The drill scene. Otherwise thin, but the atmosphere is thick.
The Burning
The raft scene is the best kill in any slasher. The rest is fine.
Mountain of the Cannibal God
The cannibal cycle in a dinner jacket, ex-Bond girl and real animal deaths included.
Maniac
Savini's effects, Spinell's performance, and a very bleak little film.
The Last House on the Left
Bergman's Virgin Spring, brutalised. Genuinely unpleasant and knows it. Tonally a mess.
The New York Ripper
Genuinely nasty and hard to defend. The killer quacks. It doesn't help.