Second Sight Films

A secret organization uses brain implant technology to inhabit other people’s bodies, ultimately driving them to commit assassinations for high-paying clients.

Arriving with a bunch of festival awards, Brandon (son of David) Cronenberg’s sci-fi thriller managed to shock in its bleakness and excess, but ultimately does it have anything to say beyond ‘don’t mess with science’? Second Sight’s 4K UHD release does however deliver an incredibly punchy transfer that brings the hyper-realised world to life.

Tasya Vos (Andrea Riseborough, Mandy) is a possessor – someone who is implanted into the psyche of a would-be assassin. Her current job finishes with a glitch – she can’t convince the assassin to commit suicide after the hit – and although tests by her boss Girder (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Dolores Claiborne) suggest that she has successfully detached herself, she’s not quite herself. The next job involves entering Colin Tate (Christopher Abbott, It Comes at Night), boyfriend of Ava, who in turn is daughter of wealthy businessman Sean Bean. It’s all going well until Vos starts losing control of her subject, resulting in a botched assassination attempt. And then Tate turns the tables on her.

It’s a gruesome 100 minutes, boosted by the HDR, with each assassination a crimson bloodbath of repeated, frenzied stabs. It’s a grim use of sophisticated technology, and maybe that’s ultimately the point here – some things are best left alone. We don’t feel anything for Vos as her world is upended – she is an assassin, after all – and our sympathies lie with her butchered family who were oblivious to her trade.

This limited edition dual 4K/Blu-ray box set has a strong bunch of extras. A new audio commentary with Brandon Cronenberg, producer Rob Cotterill, Karim Hussain and SFX artist is joined by interviews with Cronenberg, Hussain and Cotterill, test footage, an FX ‘show and tell’, featurettes, deleted scenes, short film and trailer.

Verdict: A vicious warning to keep out of people’s heads, this pin sharp UHD giving us nowhere to hide from the arterial spray. If this is how the top tech of the future will be adopted, we’re all doomed. 8/10

Nick Joy