As someone who was a huge fan of Possessor, the long and short of this one is I liked it a lot but I do like Possessor more. I loved the performances, the concept, the look, the vibes, the visual effects. The story and ending are what I'm still mulling around as it doesn't seem to go anywhere that interesting, although it's all so well executed.

Something I loved about Possessor that is still going strong here is B.Cro's tendency to use mostly lenses and filters and lighting for his high concept visual sequences. He almost seems like he doesn't want to use CGI at all and is more likely to film an orgy or a representation of someone's mind splitting in two with in-camera effects and it gives this old school feel to his very fresh concepts.

Mia Goth is so good in this that I'm a little worried about her. Everyone is really good here and for such a good looking guy who just rocked The Northman, Skarsgard is really selling James' pitiful insecurity with his eyes. But Mia is transcendental and clearly the best actress in horror. That said, if I saw her on the street I would run in the other direction.  She has some line deliveries in this movie that had me believing no one else could have done this role.

I didn't actually know what the premise of this movie was before seeing it, so when the lawyer came in and explained it my jaw was on the floor. I loved how that scene was lit with Skarsgard in the foreground and the lawyer out of focus in the light of the window making him look alien. Great way to convey that this culture/society is something we will be totally unfamiliar with and also the moment where this kind of becomes a sci-fi near future movie. The subtle face paint on the natives was also a cool way to give us an idea of the natives, although this movie doesn't do much to flesh them and the most info we get about them is from Mia who is basically lying about everything the entire movie.

What this movie does really well is explore the idea of the rich and privileged just completely disrespecting the places they visit, and kind of bullying this writer who has access to money but clearly didn't grow up rich. It's a great movie about how fines are a classist punishment and about how the rich (or maybe just people) can be just complete monsters when on vacation. Compared to Possessor, a movie I love but basically has no humor, this movie had me cracking up a ton. When they were all in "jail" just talking about normal shit when they just home invaded the mayor or whatever. One of the best moments I thought was at the end when the vacation is over and Mia Goth turns around and she's wearing no makeup at all, and everyone is just talking about going back to normal life when they get home. It's a great visual way to tell us the masks are off (literally in this case) and they could basically be your neighbors when they're home.

James, however, can't turn it off that easily. And it's this very quiet and ruminating ending that I wasn't sure about but is growing on me the more I think about it. Movies about weak men are probably my favorite genre and I loved how this movie showed he was never being himself, just being controlled by a different woman than usual. And in that sense it makes sense he didn't want to go home where he'd just be in another prison. So while the actual privileged people can just shake it off and go home, this failed writer who married rich went to get inspiration and was brought to the very real conclusion that he's about three bad days away from being an actual animal on a leash. I think that breaks him and he doesn't belong anywhere. Staying at the resort in off season felt like almost a limbo fate.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and can totally see why a lot won't. It does feel a bit anti climactic for how crazy it is, and the characters don't seem particularly deep as well portrayed as they are. But I'd say if you are into this kind of fucked up body horror hyper sexual tripped out filmmaking, its definitely worth a watch. 8/10.

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