Possession (Limited Edition) 4K Ultra HD Review

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Director Andrzej Żuławski’s Horrifying Masterpiece

Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession is not only a movie; it’s a protracted, 124-minute psychic scream. The film channels personal and political strife into a creative experience that is as excellent as it is unbearable, born in the raw aftermath of the director’s own torturous divorce and expulsion from Poland. Working in West Berlin with the Cold War’s Berlin Wall as a fixed, unsettling background, Żuławski turns a basic narrative of marital breakdown into a legendary investigation of obsession, identity, and cataclysmic disaster. Combining psychological drama, body horror, and spy thriller into something completely original, it’s a picture that fiercely defies simple classification.

Starring Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Heinz Bennent

The movie is all about how willing its actors are to go to emotional places that most other actors would never go. As Anna, Isabelle Adjani gives what many say is among the most daring and physically taxing performances ever seen in a film. Her performance is like a real aria of panic, a very upsetting portrayal of a woman going crazy that the actress needed years to recover from. Given this part, it’s hardly surprising she won Best Actress at Cannes.

Sam Neill is a revelation as Mark, the spy husband whose icy front breaks quickly into jealous fury and utter bewilderment, opposite her. Neill has since referred to it as the most extreme movie of his career and said he almost lost his mind during it. At the heart of the movie is their erratic chemistry. Rounding out the main trio, Heinz Bennent plays Heinrich, Anna’s lover, who becomes yet another victim of the couple’s all-consuming conflict with a haughty, philosophical distance.

Cinematic Psychosis

Discussing the plot in depth would deny the first-time viewer of its startling, surreal evolution. It appears Mark is returning to West Berlin to seek to stop Anna, his wife, from divorcing him for a mysterious other man. Starting as a brutally honest portrayal of a disintegrating relationship—with confrontations so violent they feel intrusive to witness—slowly, then quickly, it descends into something much more bizarre and horrible. Suspicions of adultery lead to odd conduct (Anna suddenly picks up an electric knife and cuts herself in one wild scene), unexplained absences, and the appearance of a… presence… that challenges the very nature of reality for the characters and the viewers alike.

The picture has been likened to Polanski’s Repulsion for its examination of a psychological fall and to Cronenberg’s The Brood for its gut-churning body horror. Still, Possession forges its own unique road, starting with domestic abuse and becoming avant-garde grotesquery before ending on a pulp metaphysics note. Is the terror real, evidence of psychosis, or a metaphor for the harmful, formless thing a damaged relationship can turn into? Żuławski leaves it deliberately open to make the movie stick in your memory well after the credits roll.

Legacy: From “Video Nasty” to Cult Classic

The path of Possession to its current lofty level was bumpy. Originally greeted with uncertainty and debate, it was notoriously banned in the UK as a “video nasty” and cut for its American release, losing forty-minutes of its run time, turning into a clumsy creature feature with half-baked allusions to The Omen. This hacked up edition was rightfully rejected by audiences.

Over the years, though, the original director’s cut of the film has deservedly developed a huge cult following. Its reputation has just improved; contemporary reviewers praise it as a perplexing masterpiece and a visceral, unique inquiry of marital disintegration. Its stunning beauty and unflinching vision have been brought to a fresh generation thanks to the strong 4K restoration. It’s now seen as a highly creative, very personal, and very intense work that stands alone in the landscape of horror movies.

The Video

Possession comes in a new producer approved 4K restoration in a 1.66:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) Dolby Vision encodement. This is beautifully crisp and organic restoration with thinly layered grain and lots of textural information in the image. The color is cold palette that presents well in the Dolby Vision grading. There is not a lot of extra brightness, but there is some pop in highlights like in the reflections off the title wall in the tunnel where Anna has her freak out. This is top-tier all the way through.

The Audio

The original mono audio mix for Possession is presented in a DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 track. It is clean and dynamic straight through, with excellent clarity in the dialogue and musicality in the score.

The Supplements

Second Sight loads this release up with content and bonus features, including the inferior US re-edit of the film, plus a 220-page hardcover book and the original shooting script. Numerous interviews and featurettes are also included. There is also a featurette explain the differences between the director’s cut and re-edit worth watching.

Limited Edition Contents:

• Rigid slipcase with Basha’s original theatrical artwork
• 220-page hardback book with new essays by Daniel Bird, Elena Lazic and Alison Taylor, ‘The Creature: Preliminary Sketches’, ‘Filming Possession’, ‘The Poster of Possession’, pressbook feature, archive articles and interviews and Behind the Scenes gallery
• 211-page original shooting script book with notes by Andrzej Żuławski and Frederic Tuten
• 6 collectors’ art cards 

Bonus Features:

• Dual format 3-disc edition including 1 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and 2 HD Blu-rays with main feature and bonus features on both formats
• The North American Re-edit: Newly restored from an archive print
• New Audio Commentary by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and Alison Taylor
• Audio Commentary by Director Andrzej Żuławski moderated by Daniel Bird
• Audio Commentary by Frederic Tuten moderated by Daniel Bird
• New Audio Commentary by Daniel Bird and Manuela Lazic (The North American Re-edit)
• The Horror of Normality: Guillermo del Toro on Possession (1080p; 00:26:29)
• The Shadow We Carry: Kat Ellinger on Possession (1080p; 00:18:35)
• Repossessed: The Film’s UK and US Reception (1080p; 00:12:29) — This featurette highlights the differences between the director’s cut and the US re-edit, which recorded dialogue, the score, and cut 40-minutes from the film.
• Andrzej Żuławski: Director: Archive documentary (1080p/60; 00:51:39)
• A Divided City:  The Berlin Locations (1080p; 00:07:12)
• The Sounds of Possession: An Interview with Composer Andrzej Korzynski (1080p; 00:19:06)
• Our Friend in the West: An Interview with Producer Christian Ferry (1080p; 00:06:40)
• Basha: A Featurette on Poster Artist Barbara ‘Basha’ Baranowska (1080p; 00:05:55)
• The Other Side of The Wall: The Making of Possession (1080p; 00:51:40)
• Archive Interview with Andrzej Żuławski (1080p; 00:36:03)
• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 00:04:00)
• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 00:02:47)

The Final Assessment

A thought provoking, visceral horror and melodrama that kind of defies categorization, Possession shows Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill pushing their performances to their limits and Żuławski mastering his craft. This release is also a reference level, feature-rich limited edition. Highly recommended.

Possession (Limited Edition) is out in the UK December 15, 2025 from Second Sight Films

Details

• Rating Certificate: BBFC cert: 18
• Studios & Distributors: Gaumont | Oliane Productions | Marianne Productions | Soma Film Produktion | Second Sight Films
• Director: Andrzej Żuławski
• Written By: Andrzej Żuławski | Frederic Tuten
• Run Time: 124 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: Dolby Vision (HDR10 Compatible)
• HDR10 Metadata:
  • MaxLL: 746 nits
  • MaxFALL: 299 nits
• Primary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 1.0
• Subtitles: English SDH
• Street Date: 15 December 2025