Robert Pattinson is working on a remake of the fan-favorite 1981 cult horror movie Possession, and I’m worried this remake will tone down the original film’s signature weirdness. The original Possession, written and directed by Andrzej Żuławski, is infamously one of the most disturbing movies ever made; in the UK, it gained notoriety as one of the coveted “video nasties.” Possession uses the trope of demonic possession as a metaphor to explore the fractures in the marriage of an international spy, played by Sam Neill, and his long-suffering wife, played by Isabelle Adjani.

Pattinson is attached to produce a Possession remake that will reportedly be written and directed by Parker Finn. The project has yet to be snapped up by a studio, but it has generated a lot of interest in Tinseltown. Studios including A24, Warner Bros., and Netflix are caught in a bidding war for the Possession remake. But as a fan of the original, this remake concerns me. Possession is such a unique piece of horror cinema – and such a uniquely unsettling viewing experience – that I’m worried a Hollywood remake won’t be able to do it justice.

Robert Pattinson’s Possession Remake Is Based On A Wild Cult-Favorite Horror Movie

Possession is one of the most notorious horror movies ever made

Anyone who sees this news and hasn’t seen the banned original Possession might assume that Pattinson is making a movie like The Exorcist or The Conjuring. But Possession is nowhere near as conventional as that; it’s as much of a gut-wrenching psychological drama as it is a supernatural horror movie. All the film’s paranormal elements are there to support the marital strife between Mark and his wife, Anna. Once Anna asks for a divorce, strange things start happening to the couple. The genius of the movie is that it uses its supernatural storyline to complement the relationship drama.

The most iconic moment from the original (recently homaged in The First Omen’s scariest moment) is when Anna is tormented by demonic spirits on her way out of a subway station. In a long, continuous take that creates a sense of documentary-like realism, Anna writhes around, seemingly out of her control. Adjani’s performance in this scene has gone down as the most shocking and memorable on-screen portrayal of demonic possession – even more shocking and memorable than Linda Blair’s turn in The Exorcist. Whoever takes on the Adjani role in Pattinson’s Possession remake will have some pretty hefty shoes to fill.

Possession’s Remake Can’t Afford To Tone Down The Original’s Weirdness

They can’t Hollywood-ize Possession

The remake of Possession needs to avoid toning down the film’s signature surrealness in an attempt to reach a wider audience. On its initial release, Possession proved to be so controversial that it was heavily edited before it could be released in the United States. Now that the U.S. is making its own version of Possession, I’m worried history will repeat itself and it’ll get ridiculously toned down for mass consumption. If they’re committed to remaking Possession, then they need to really go for it and make a movie that’s just as out there and unabashedly weird as Żuławski’s original.

From The Ring to Let Me In to Suspiria, American remakes of international horror classics tend to smooth out the original’s edges and replace their idiosyncrasies with familiar clichés. If this happens with the Possession redo, then it’ll end up being just another forgettable horror remake. But if it leans into the weirdness of Żuławski’s original movie, it could be something really special.

Possession’s Director Makes The Remake Even More Exciting

The director of Smile is working on the Possession remake

The fact that Pattinson is collaborating with Parker Finn is a good sign for the Possession remake. Finn introduced himself as one of the most exciting new voices in the horror genre with his hit supernatural thriller Smile in 2022. Smile was a truly unnerving horror movie that used its terrifying paranormal tropes to explore its protagonist’s psychology. Finn took a similar approach to Smile that Żuławski took to the original Possession: just as the monsters in Possession are a metaphor for marital troubles, the monsters in Smile are a metaphor for trauma.

Of course, Smile isn’t a perfect movie; I do have some concerns that the faults of Smile could ruin the Possession remake. Smile had a rushed ending, a predictable final twist, and it relied heavily on jump scares. They were effective jump scares – very well-crafted and carefully built up to – but the film had an abundance of jump scares, and that would be bad for the Possession remake. Using too many jump scares would turn this unique experiment in horror cinema into another typical spook-fest. Hopefully, Finn will pare back the jump scares in his approach to the Possession remake.