The odds that the child of a legendary Horror film director would themselves turn out to be a pretty great Horror film director are astronomical. I hadn’t seen Brandon Cronenberg’s previous/first film (2012’s Antiviral), so this was my introduction to his work. I actually put off watching Possessor for a while. Truthfully, I love his father’s work so much that I was almost worried Possessor wouldn’t be good and it would somehow sully the Cronenberg name, which is ridiculous.

Fortunately I didn’t have to worry about that as Possessor is very well done with its own unique style and vision. There are definitely moments where you can see his father’s son in the work, but it never feels derivative.

And oh boy, is this thing bloody. Apparently most of what you see on camera was done practically, and it’s often uncomfortably realistic (especially if you consider being stabbed in the neck a particularly disturbing vision).

If you can find it, watch the director’s cut as it includes a few scenes that Cronenberg had to remove to get an “R” rating in the US.