For many the giallo genre (Italian thrillers) was barely
around in the sixties and didn’t really kick off until the seventies when Dario
Argento arrived. Truth be told the genre started much earlier than that and was
even an offshoot of the earlier films known as krim titles from Germany made
during the fifties and sixties. Many consider the first real giallo film to be
Mario Bava’s EVIL EYE (aka THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH) made in 1963. What some
fail to note is that the genre did indeed begin in the sixties and this film,
THE POSSESSED, was one of those earlier titles.
The story revolves around a writer named Bernard (Peter
Baldwin) who feels compelled to return to a small village where he vacationed
previously. When he was there he fell for a young maid named Tilda (Virna Lisi)
and he’s returned to renew that romance. But this is unlikely to happen. To
begin with she’s no longer at the hotel where he stayed and the townspeople are
unwilling to talk about her. He then learns the reason why, she committed
suicide.
But did she really? Unwilling to accept this as the reason
for her death he begins to investigate on his own the facts behind her death.
He finds that he wasn’t the only man she was involved with. A photographer in town
brings him pictures that shows a secret she had shortly before she died. Later
he learns that they while they ruled her death as a suicide that reason seems
odd since her throat was slashed.
All clues lead to the family who own and run the hotel he is
staying at. With barely anyone else there since it’s the off season it gives
him plenty of time and access to the family. This include the man who owns the
hotel, his daughter who is concerned with the hotel’s reputation, the son who
runs the butcher shop next door and his wife, a woman distraught who walks
along the shore alone at night. There is also the Tilde’s father who gets drunk
and rants at the hotel from the street.
The movie combines elements of the whodunit with a ghost
like quality though it involves no spirits. But the ever present sense of Tilde
over the entire group seems to linger over them all. Much like her meeting with
the writer influenced his decision to return looking for her, her presence
hovers over the entire town as the true fate she befell gets closer with each
passing minute of film.
Shot in black and white the movie does possess a certain
haunting quality to it. Well-made with a certain style that doesn’t go for the
normal use of light and shadow the film holds the viewer’s interest from start
to finish. The pieces of the puzzle are not delivered quickly but in
painstaking fashion that will have you guessing until the final revelation.
It’s an entertaining movie that fans of giallo will certainly enjoy.
Arrow Video is releasing this version of the film in
pristine fashion with a 2k restoration made from the original camera negative.
They’re also offering the numerous extras that fans have come to expect from
them including a new commentary track by writer/critic Tim Lucas, “Richard Dyer
on The Possessed” a filmed video appreciation by critic/academic Dyer, “Cat’s
Eyes” an interview with the film’s makeup artists Giannetto De Rossi, “Two Days
a Week” an interview with the film’s award-winning assistant art director Dante
Ferretti, “The Legacy of the Bazzoni Brothers” an interview with actor/director
Francesco Barilli, the original trailers, reversible artwork featuring the
original and newly commissioned artwork by Sean Phillips and for the first
pressing only an illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the
film by Andreas Ehrenreich, Roberto Curti and original reviews.
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