The Cinematheque

VIFF 2020

“The first great sci-fi horror movie of the decade.”

Norman Gidney, Film Threat

Altered States | Special Presentations

Performing ​“wet work” for a clandestine corporation, Tasya (Andrea Riseborough) assumes control of people’s bodies via brain implants and uses them as puppets to perform assassinations. However, we haven’t even reached the opening titles before the technology proves glitchy. Consequently, it’s not particularly surprising when her next mission goes off the rails, threatening to leave her stranded in the pawn (Christopher Abbott) she’s possessing. What is legitimately shocking, however, is the unrelenting intensity and astonishing inventiveness of the reality-fraying chaos orchestrated by Brandon Cronenberg (Antiviral, VIFF 12). It takes all of 60 seconds for flesh to be violated in Possessor, a fitting opening salvo from a deeply sinister film that delights in getting under your skin. Cronenberg knows precisely how he wants to fill every frame with nightmare fuel, courtesy of ingenious practical effects and darkly alluring imagery. And as Tasya pleas to be pulled out of her identity crisis, viewers will be forgiven for begging Cronenberg to plunge them even deeper into the macabre world he’s envisioned. – VIFF

Canadian Premiere
Language: In English
CAST: Andrea Riseborough, Christopher Abbott, Rossif Sutherland, Tuppence Middleton, Sean Bean, Jennifer Jason Leigh
EXEC: Gary Hamilton, Ryan Hamilton, Ying Ye, Adrian Love, Noah Segal, Dave Bishop, Steven Squillante, Tony Roman, David U. Lee, Daniel Negret, Simon Williams, Vaishali Mistry
PROD: Niv Fichman, Andy Starke, Kevin Krikst, Fraser Ash
SCR: Brandon Cronenberg
CAM: Karim Hussain
ED: Matthew Hannam
PROD DES: Rupert Lazarus
MUS: Jim Williams