Some films are difficult to remake, and then there are others that feel almost dangerous to touch. Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 film Possession belongs firmly in the latter camp.
More than four decades after the surreal psychological horror first arrived in cinemas, Possession is officially being reimagined for a new generation – and it has assembled a suitably intriguing cast to do it.
Margaret Qualley and Callum Turner will lead the new adaptation, with Smile filmmaker Parker Finn taking on directing duties. And now, the project finally has a release date.
Exactly how Finn plans to reinterpret such singular material remains unknown. But with Qualley fresh from the body-horror phenomenon The Substance and Turner stepping into one of Sam Neill’s most unnerving roles, consider our curiosity thoroughly piqued.
Here's what you need to know.
When will the Possession remake be released?
Paramount has confirmed that the film will arrive in cinemas on 11 June 2027. While an official local release date for Australian cinemas has not yet been locked in yet by distributors, it's expected to line up with the mid-2027 international rollout.
Who else is involved?
Finn is adapting the film as well as directing, while our favourite British weirdo Robert Pattinson is among its producers.
Qualley and Turner will play the film’s central husband and wife, with an impressive supporting cast including our forever favourite Paul Dano, Diego Calva, Madeline Brewer, Emory Cohen and Nicholas Alexander Chavez (who you might recognise from Ryan Murphy's Monsters series on the Menendez brothers).
Details surrounding their characters are, for now, being kept under wraps.
What was the original Possession about?
Żuławski’s film starred Isabelle Adjani and the late, great Sam Neill as Anna and Mark, a married couple whose relationship begins to violently unravel after Anna asks for a divorce. Calling it a story about marital breakdown, however, barely scratches the surface.
It's a film set against the divided landscape of Cold War-era West Berlin, and rapidly descends from domestic drama into body horror, paranoia, doppelgängers and the supernatural.
Adjani’s feverish performance – including the now-iconic subway sequence (that fans have already spotted Qualley filming in NYC) – has helped transform the film into a cult touchstone or horror fans.
Why was it controversial?
Well, the film was banned and heavily edited in several markets following its debut, but has since undergone a significant critical reassessment, becoming beloved by horror devotees, cinephiles and fashion circles alike.
It was controversial for its intensely graphic and transgressive imagery, including bloody self-harm, a miscarriage, extreme violence and a notorious tentacle porn scene (I shan't go into further detail on that one).
In the UK, it became associated with the early-1980s “video nasty” moral panic, when horror films were targeted over fears that violent and obscene home-video content could “deprave and corrupt” viewers. And its home-video availability was consequently heavily restricted.
The controversy was amplified internationally by censorship and severe edits – particularly in the US, where a substantially shortened version stripped away much of the film’s psychological and political context, helping turn Possession into one of the era’s most infamous cult films.
