Exclusives
Director Zal Batmanglij On Cults, Belief And The ‘Sound Of My Voice’
While my official review doesn’t hit until Friday, it’s safe to say that I pretty much love Sound Of My Voice. It’s a small, but very effective, thriller with some genuinely creepy moments. It also gives you a lot to think about and asks some interesting questions about the nature of belief itself – not necessarily religious belief (though it can be interpreted that way), but the mechanics behind what we accept as fact and reject as fiction.
Last week I sat down with Zal Batmanglij, the film’s director and co-writer, to talk about cults, the nature of belief and debunking, long (intense) scenes and crafting the film in general.
In the R-rated thriller from director Zal Batmanglij, “Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius), a couple and documentary filmmaking team, infiltrate a mysterious group led by an enigmatic young woman named Maggie (Brit Marling). Intent on exposing her as a charlatan and freeing the followers from her grip, Peter and Lorna start to question their objective and each other as they unravel the secrets of Maggie’s underworld.”
Sound Of My Voice opens in tomorrow, April 27th. I strongly urge you to seek it out. Head inside for the interview.
A hospital stay grows more nerve-frazzling when memory loss distorts reality in our exclusive clip from This Tempting Madness, inspired by a true story.
The mind-bending psychological thriller will be released in select theaters and on demand on June 12 via Vertical.
Simone Ashley (“Bridgerton”) stars as Mia, who awakens from a coma, grievously injured, her memory fractured. As she puts the pieces of her past together, she starts to question her own actions and her perception of reality.
In This Tempting Madness, “Mia awakens from a coma grievously injured, her memory fractured. As she puts the pieces of her past together, she starts to question her own actions, and her perception of reality.”
Jennifer E. Montgomery makes her feature directorial debut from a script she co-wrote with director of photography Andrew Davis, inspired by Montgomery’s first-hand experience with tragedy involving her best friend.
“Months before the incident, there were signals that her world was unraveling,” says Montgomery. “I could feel the pressure building, though I didn’t know what form it would take. I never could have known what violence would come, and I certainly never imagined making a film about it.”
Austin Stowell (“NCIS: Origins”), Suraj Sharma (Happy Death Day 2U), Mojean Aria (Reminiscence), Amol Shah (“For All Mankind”), and Zenobia Shroff (“Ms. Marvel”) round out the cast.
Smoke Jumper Films and Mango Monster Productions produce in association with Catchlight Studios (Heretic, The Blackening).
This Tempting Madness is rated R for “language, violence/bloody images, and brief sexuality.”