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Second Sight 4K Standard Edition |
Comparison between the US version as a bonus on the British 4K UHD/Blu-ray set from Second Sight and the US version as a 480i bonus on the Australian 4K UHD/Blu-ray set from Umbrella, the latter presumably identical to the French 4K UHD/Blu-ray set from Umbrella
Andrzej Zulawski's 1981 psychological horror film Possession remains a disturbing masterpiece. Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill shine in a marital nightmare that loses much of its impact in the US version, which is cut by a full 45 minutes and features a different soundtrack, re-ordered scenes, and even some exclusive material. We will take a closer look at the differences between this historically exciting version and the original version. For now, however, we will first look at the previous releases of the curious US version. For a long time, the version was only available in a quality that virtually took away any desire to write a detailed report. For those primarily interested in the director's original version, this is of course welcome in principle: The heavily butchered US cut initially remained exclusive to VHS, and the uncut version was available digitally almost everywhere worldwide. A featurette on the UK Blu-ray released in 2013 provided at least a small insight into the extensive adjustments, and it was not until the 4K premieres in France (2021) and Australia (2023) that the idea of including the US version as a bonus feature was revisited. However, on both releases, it was only available zoomed to full screen and in 480i, obviously based on a VHS source, which in turn was a washed-out evaluation of a cinema reel. Nice for the sake of completeness, but anything but pleasant to watch. We only had the Australian version, but it should use exactly the same master as the French release. The 4K Blu-ray edition from Second Sight, available in the UK since December 15, 2025, now goes a step further in many respects. The same 4K restoration created by Le Chat Qui Fume for the French release, which was also purchased by Umbrella in Australia, was used for the uncut original version. While the two previous releases were only in SDR, HDR grading has now been applied for the first time. This is not our focus, but reviews on AVForums or image comparisons on the Blu-ray.com forum give you an idea how this turned out. Together with the lavish bonus material, especially in the limited edition, which includes a whopping 220-page book supplement with various essays and the original screenplay, this is probably the ultimate release. What's particularly exciting from our point of view is that, for the first time, a new scan of the US theatrical version is included on both the 4K UHD Blu-ray and Blu-ray in the set. Because rare film scans of such exotic versions often have minor or even major flaws/differences, we took a closer look. On the one hand, no: basically, the versions are identical, with no shots missing completely. On the other hand, however, a few differences are noticeable in the details. Due to the different frame rates (24fps vs. 23.976fps), there are a few more seconds of difference, and throughout the film, individual frames are missing here and there in both versions. Particularly noticeable, however, are the typical moments every ~15-20 minutes where markings in the old 480i version herald a change of film reels. Here, Second Sight is missing about a second in each case, and strange jumps are noticeable. As mentioned, this is not earth-shattering, and the main takeaway from this report is actually the impression of the vastly improved image quality - and to provide a little teaser of the more extensive differences between the US version and the original version.
Running times are listed according to the following scheme After a second of black screen, the Australian Blu-ray starts a moment earlier. It fades in from black and Mark's first step can be seen.
1.4 sec
Here are a few more comparison images that speak for themselves in terms of quality.
When Mark enters the apartment in the 12th minute, several minor master errors add up to 1 second. 16:32 / 16:34-16:35 Anna hangs in Mark's arms a little longer at the end of the shot (before she undresses). A black marker in the upper right corner indicates that there was a reel change here, exactly at the first frame. In Second Sight's new scan, these frames were simply removed a little more generously. 1.2 sec
32:52 / 32:55-32:56 A few insignificant frames at the end of the shot of Helen and the follow-up shot inside. 1 sec
Here, too, a dot mark in the upper right corner of the 480i master before the actual deviation indicated the reel change, which explains this mini-deviation.
50:18 / 50:22 Shortly before the scene change, Second Sight's rescan has a small jump cut here, causing Anna's hands at the back of her head to jump a little. 0.5 sec
It looks as if Second Sight has patched this with another scan, because the image becomes noticeably darker in two consecutive frames, while the color remains unchanged in the full-screen version from Umbrella.
Immediately afterwards, at 50:21 / 50:25, there is another jump cut of this kind in Second Sight. Here again, the two consecutive frames show Anna suddenly taking a whole step forward.
To add to the confusion, one second earlier, the 480i version actually shows the moment between this jump cut (i.e., Anna stepping past the open door) and fades into the scene from black. Second Sight, on the other hand, enters the scene a little earlier before the jump cut, and here you can even see Anna coming in from the left of the other room.
69:26 / 69:30-69:31 Mark can be seen a little longer at the end of the scene after Anna has left. 1.5 sec
Another rather bumpy spot. On the one hand, a black dot in the upper right corner of the 480i version shortly before made it clear that this was another reel change...
...and on the other hand, the rescan by Second Sight also has a strange single frame at the beginning of the follow-up shot, in which the car is clearly further to the right in the picture and then jumps forward. In the Australian version, the following scene starts again just before the point of the second image. In any case, here are the two frames in Second Sight that follow each other directly and thus result in a jump:
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