10 Horror Movies That Purposefully Mess With Your Head

Released in 2018, Garth Marenghi's Dark Place creator Matthew Holness’ strange and unsettling Possum is a deceptively simple psychological horror whose meaning seems inscrutable at first glance.

But the flick makes a lot more sense considering the popular fan theory (credit to YouTuber Ryan Hollinger for spotlighting this one) that the repugnant uncle, played by Alun Armstrong, is as imaginary as the titular monstrous puppet.

Where Possum can be read as a gruesome externalisation of our tragic protagonist's childhood trauma, his leering uncle may well be long dead and his constant creepy presence in the film can also be read as an externalisation of the main character's dark impulses to re-enact his own trauma on others.

Within this reading, the kidnapped schoolboy was in fact taken captive by Sean Harris' disturbed hero, not his uncle, and only through the denouement's deeply satisfying neck-snapping defeat of said uncle can the film's troubled protagonist free the poor kid and begin a path toward recovery.

So you see, the bleak, unbelievably dark horror actually has a pretty happy ending after all.

You know, all things considered.