Possession [hardcover] by Chris Kelso
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Details
MIDNIGHT MOVIE MONOGRAPH by Chris Kelso
SERIES EDITOR Guy Adams
CATEGORY Horror
PUBLICATION DATE Augusth 2025
COVER ART & DESIGN Neil Snowdon
PAGES 90
EDITION
Jacketed hardcover — ISBN 978-1-80394-536-1 [£20]
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Heralded as "quite simply one of the most audaciously unhinged and alarming movies of all time",Possession’s impact on horror cinema cannot be overstated. In Possession: Dreams of Suffering and Sanity, Kelso uses Zulawski’s film as a reflecting surface to explore the trials of separation and the doomed complexity intrinsic to all modern relationships (by way of Kristeva, Fisher, and Von Franz).
Set in the haunted house of pre-unification Berlin, Possession gained initial notoriety as a Video Nasty of particular ill-repute. It has since been reappraised and heralded as an art-horror classic. Part film study, part naked memoir, Possession: Dreams of Suffering and Sanity is full of new insight into the film once reductively described by its own director as, simply, a move about ‘a woman who fucks an octopus’. Featuring interviews with those involved in the films production, key members of the Polish academic film community, and a few celebrity fans, Kelso will take you on a dark odyssey through one man’s dreams, his suffering and his sanity.
Franco's pivotal film
Lucas, Tim - Succubus (Necronomicon)
It is not Franco’s most important film, nor his best, nor the most accessible.
Nevertheless, it is the transition film, the pivot.
Where he was given carte blanche, meaning a pile of money, to make whatever kind of film he wanted.
Never before, and never again, would Jess Franco be handed so much artistic freedom.
Writer and film historian Lucas takes a deep, deep dive into a singular film.
Comparing and contrasting the two different versions, French and American.
And no, the dubbed version is not the lamentable ripoff.
An experienced soul, steeped in culture, fashioned the US dub.
For fans of this director, this is key to understanding a moment in his career where doors opened.
For those who do not know Jess Franco, or dismiss him as a porn hack, this is not the for you book.
Packed with photos and footnotes, a great addition to one’s cinema library.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν
