Funny, I don't remember him being so bad in Omen III: The Final Conflict, but having watched John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness and Andrzej Zulawski's Possession in recent succession, I'm now of the firm opinion that Sam Neill should be forcibly restrained from making any more horror movies; they bring out the
hammy worst in the man. Nevertheless, even Neill is upstaged here by the extraordinary supporting performance - and I don't intend that as a compliment - of Heinz Bennent, quite the most entertaining piece of scenery-chewing I have witnessed in a good long while. This wasn't too bad a movie, actually: the atmosphere is nicely oppressive, Isabelle Adjani certainly throws herself into her role and the restless camerawork is marvellous throughout. What the film lacks, however, is a little subtlety and a lot of control; it's shrill and hysterical from beginning to end, often comically so. It's very apt that Possession is frequently compared to David Cronenberg's The Brood - and there are, indeed, similarities - because Cronenberg immediately springs to mind when one considers which other director might have been able to make a better movie out of this; Polanski is another.
April 3, 2011
