What Sleeps Beneath is an online magazine that explores the horror genre as one of the most important cultural vehicles of our time. It is a home for all horror-loving nerds, and a space to investigate what the genre tells us about ourselves. We write book and movie reviews, conduct interviews, and write original academic research.

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Pip McGough 11/9/26 Pip McGough 11/9/26

The Better Actor: Performance, Identity, and the Monstrous in ‘Possession’

Everyone in Possession is performing a role. Pip McGough examines Sam Neill’s tightly controlled Mark, Isabelle Adjani’s explosive doubling, and the creature that becomes exactly what another person demands—making it, perhaps, the film’s most accomplished actor.

Magill Foote 11/2/26 Magill Foote 11/2/26

“The Man Who Saw Too Much”: Sam Neill’s Horrified Gaze

Sam Neill’s characters often make a living by looking closely: spies, investigators, scientists. But in Possession, In the Mouth of Madness, and Event Horizon, seeing more rarely means understanding more. Magill Foote traces how Neill’s watchful performances turn the search for answers into a source of horror.

Ande Thomas 6/27/21 Ande Thomas 6/27/21

The Nature of God in Andrzej Żuławski's ‘Possession’

Andrzej Żuławski's Possession, having gained cult status 40 years later, tells the story of a failing marriage and an equally devastating relationship to God and divinity.