Blu-ray Review: The Possessed (1965)
Bernard (Peter Baldwin), a sad sack novelist, decides to use that classic cure-all, namely horniness, and sets off to rekindle a relationship with his ex-lover Tilda (Virna Lisi); who works as a maid at a remote hotel located next to a lake. Everything seems hunky-goddammned-dory with the hotel’s owner, Enrico (Salvo Randone) and his daughter Irma (Valentina Cortese)…but it seems Tilda has pulled a David Copperfield and vanished. Having fuck-all to do, Bernard begins investigating the disappearance and ends up spiraling farther down a rabbit hole of perversion, insanity, and murder! The Possessed, comprised of it’s heavily art house influenced style and dark and deadly themes definitely stands as a strong and stylish fore-runner of the beloved murder heavy giallo genre. Directors Luigi Bazzoni, Franco Rossellini present the material with gobs of style and chiaroscuro visuals, but there are definitely moments where the concentration on aesthetics definitely hamper the clarity of the film’s storytelling (a problem also present in a
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