Don’t Open x The Possession Commentary
Added 2023-02-16 15:38:41 +0000 UTCThis month's clip is from the film Possession by Andzej Zulawski. This will mark the first in a forthcoming series of various other films he directed, though perhaps not in a consecutive order, where he also incorporates and explores the doppelganger theme. Zulawski's style is erratic, terrifying, and oftentimes confusing, which ultimately leads to the unique sense of terror in his films. A theme of Bell Witch itself is positioned around conceptual ghosts, which can easily be seen to have a pattern of similarities to doppelgangers in that they act as a mirror to something reflected inside of ourselves that cannot escape. Likewise, doppelgangers are also an outward reflection, though often not of one's charming side.
In this clip from Possession, we see Sam Neill's doppelganger climb the stairs as if this evil force is orchestrating the demise of his original self- ultimately an allegory of self destruction. Likewise, in the final scene we see Isabelle Adjani (who is absolutely fucking incredible in this movie) staring into the distance behind the camera in the shadow of a flickering strobe expressing something otherworldy and terrifying in her eyes. In the background, Sam Neill's doppelganger has pressed his body against the door as if he could somehow physically transcend it to enter the room.
I settled on keeping the bass clean at the beginning of the clip. Originally I had used some delay but the unaffected tracks give the atmosphere a sort of loneliness that was unmatched. Further, some of the notes made the preamp distort ever so slightly which I think added a sense of unnerving tension that ultimately complimented the scene. The slow crawl Neill makes across the stairs at 0:25-1:11 seemed a perfect pace for the bass guitar here. Likewise, the pulsing low synth matched pretty close to the sporadic strobe lights that start when the kid jumps into the bathtub to drown himself. I felt like this came out very well and I've found myself daydreaming how this could fit into future Bell Witch songs.
