Possum

Description

Possum is a British psychological horror that proves you don’t need jump scares to craft a true nightmare—just a leather bag and oppressive silence. It plunges you into the unraveling psyche of a puppeteer who returns to his childhood home to confront the ghosts of his past.

Philip is a children’s puppeteer who drags a heavy leather satchel everywhere he goes. Inside lives a grotesque marionette with a spider’s body and Philip’s own face. He tries to destroy it: drowns it, burns it, abandons it in the woods, but it always finds its way back, as if it were an extension of himself. In the crumbling house, his repugnant stepfather awaits, along with a secret that has poisoned Philip’s life since childhood.

The film is directed by Matthew Holness, best known for the cult comedy-horror series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, but there isn’t a trace of humor here. This is pure psychological surrealism in the vein of David Lynch. The horror here is built on visual imagery: the grey Norfolk landscape, decaying interiors, and Sean Harris’s piercing gaze, as he portrays a man on the verge of complete psychological collapse.

If you’re seeking a conventional thrill ride, look elsewhere. But if you gravitate toward films like David Cronenberg’s Spider, where the monster is a metaphor for buried trauma, Possum will crawl under your skin and linger long after the credits roll.