Trailer for Matthew Holness' POSSUM

POSSUM is the debut feature film from writer/director Matthew Holness, co-creator and writer/star of the cult TV series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.  Following its successful World Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Irish Premiere at the Galway Film Festival, POSSUM will screen at Frightfest in August and will be released in UK cinemas on 26 October. 

Starring Sean Harris (Mission: Impossible, Southcliffe) and Alun Armstrong (Frontier, Get Carter), POSSUM is a distinctive psychological thriller which pays homage to the British horror films of the 70s.  The film’s unique and stylish exploration of a man’s isolation and abandonment is accompanied by a compelling soundtrack from the legendary electronic BBC music studio The Radiophonic Workshop.

The story follows disgraced children’s puppeteer PHILIP (Sean Harris), returning to his childhood home of Fallmarsh, Norfolk, intent on destroying Possum, a hideous puppet he keeps hidden inside a brown leather bag. When his attempts fail, Philip is forced to confront his sinister stepfather MAURICE (Alun Armstrong) in an effort to escape the dark horrors of his past.

“For the film” Matthew says “I chose to concentrate more fully on the story’s true ‘monster’, a real-life horror more frightening than any supernatural presence.  My desire was to make a modern ‘silent’ horror, with little dialogue or connection with the outer world. This is, after all, a film about silence. Philip’s isolation and abandonment. His loneliness. His terror of speaking out.”