Just how far is the film going to be pushing that rating? Hot Spot is rated ‘R’ for “strong violent content, gore, graphic nudity, sexual content and brief language.”

Watch the previously released official trailer below. Here’s the synopsis…

“In a near future society ruled by sentient AI, a private eye investigates a murder case, only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord.”

Andrzej Konopka (The Lure) and Reika Kirishima (Drive My Car) also star. 

Robert Bolesto (The Lure) wrote the screenplay.

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From The Lure director Agnieszka Smoczyńska, the dystopian sci-fi thriller will be released in North American theaters on August 21 via Focus Features.

The genre-bending film is set in “a near future society ruled by sentient AI, where a private eye investigates a murder case, only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord.”

Andrzej Konopka (The Lure), Noomi Rapace (Prometheus), and Reika Kirishima (Drive My Car) star. 

Robert Bolesto (The Lure) wrote the screenplay.

“To me, ‘Hot Spot’ is a story where the main feeling is fear, just like in a horror movie. And in today’s world,” Bolesto previously told Variety. Smoczyńska describes the new project as a “personal blend of horror, science fiction and anti-detective story,” signaling another unique genre-bender from the filmmaker.

The project was developed with the support of The Sundance Institute, which presented Smoczyńska with its 2017 Global Filmmaking Award.

Producers include Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska at Poland’s Madants, who produced Claire Denis’ High Life and Agnieszka Holland’s Mr Jones, alongside Before Midnight producer Christos V. Konstantakopoulos at Greek production outfit Faliro House. 

Hot Spot will open against Insidious: Out of the Further.

Also on the way from Focus Features is Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25.

The post ‘Hot Spot’ Trailer – Noomi Rapace Stars as a Cyber Witch in Dystopian Sci-Fi Thriller From ‘The Lure’ Director appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The story follows two women who travel to Morocco to adopt another woman’s baby.

French-Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch will helm the film from a script he penned with Maryam Touzani (The Blue Caftan), who also co-stars in the film.

The international production hails from France’s Les Films du Nouveau Monde, Morocco’s Ali n’ Productions, Sweden’s Rainy Days, Belgium’s Velvet Films, and Norway’s Staer.

The project is supported by the Centre Cinématographique Marocain, the Belgian Tax Shelter, and the Swedish Film Institute, and is co-produced by Sweden’s Film i Väst.

Run, with No Tears is scheduled to start filming in September. Films Boutique is handling international sales.

Rapace’s other upcoming genre projects include the AI thriller Hot Spot, in theaters August 21; the psychological thriller The Technique; and the dystopian thriller No Man’s Land.

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Midway through Scott’s Alien (1979), the audience watches as Kane (John Hurt), an industrial spaceship’s crewmember, begins seizing over his dinner plate just hours after his body is attacked by a spider-like entity now called a facehugger. Known as the chestburster scene, this infamous sequence concludes with a baby xenomorph pulsing against Kane’s fracturing ribcage, ultimately tearing a fatal hole in his chest. Merging body horror with pregnancy, this revolutionary moment in genre history forced male audiences to confront the pain we’ve long-since accepted as commonplace in female life. 

Following this jaw-dropping scene, the franchise leans into the terror of birth as a variety of parasitic monsters use the human body to procreate. While Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus makes the allegory explicit, perhaps no film in franchise history parallels Kane’s disturbing death like Prometheus and its harrowing c-section scene.

While this medical ordeal is a stomach-churning example of body horror, perhaps most disturbing is the way the scene encapsulates the dehumanizing struggle to seek reproductive care in the modern United States. Released ten years before the fall of Roe v. Wade — a Supreme Court decision guaranteeing the right to abortion care — Prometheus offers a prophetic glimpse of the hell many women must now navigate. 

Elizabeth Shaw’s Pregnancy and the Horror of Lost Bodily Autonomy

Heralded as Scott’s long-awaited return to the Alien world, connections to the franchise remained vague until a post-credits scene featured a prototypical xenomorph. Functioning as a prequel to the 1979 film, Prometheus begins with a humanoid figure drinking a mysterious black liquid, which causes his body to disintegrate. Close views of this visceral death reveal his DNA reconstructing itself into what may be the beginning of human existence. Millenia later, archaeologists and partners Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) will call these beings Engineers and track them across the galaxy to unravel the secrets of life itself. 

Unfortunately, they arrive on a distant moon to find the Engineers have long since died. Not only that, but LV-223 appears to be a military outpost dedicated to creating a biological weapon intended to destroy humanity. While exploring their deserted station, the crew’s android David (Michael Fassbender) secretly returns to the ship with an inky, black liquid he subtly slips into Holloway’s drink. When this results in the archaeologist’s mysterious death, Shaw finds herself under quarantine. David scans her body and thankfully pronounces her free from illness, but declares that she is three months pregnant. 

Shaw is shocked by this diagnosis, insisting that it’s impossible. We remember a recent conversation with Holloway in which she tearfully reveals that she cannot conceive, pushing back on her partner’s callous comment about the easy nature of creating life. Anyone who has struggled with infertility likely sees themselves in her somber rebuttal as Shaw reminds us that women are not defined by their wombs or their ability to carry a child. But the frightened archeologist is also disturbed by the timing of this pregnancy. Though she was intimate with Holloway, their encounter happened the night before.

Three months ago, she and the rest of the crew were in deep cryosleep on the multi-year journey to LV-223, implying an unconscious assault. Thankfully, David allays this fear while introducing a more frightening scenario: the fetus’s size proves that her pregnancy is not “traditional.”  

Horrified, Shaw begs for a c-section, demanding David “get it out of me.” With a placating grin that reveals his intentions, David gently states — without consulting the crew’s medical officer — that they do not have the personnel onboard to perform this relatively simple procedure. In his opinion, the best course of action is to return her body to cryosleep as the mysterious pregnancy runs its course. Considering Holloway’s grisly death, Shaw knows that allowing the fetus to fully gestate will likely be a death sentence. As David gives her a sedative, she becomes a living incubator, her own life now less valuable than the collection of cells in her uterus.

Fortunately, Shaw has a backup plan. Fighting her way out of quarantine, she rushes to the ship’s MedPod, an automated surgery table presumably reserved for the crew’s ultra-wealthy captain. Initiating the device’s emergency protocols, Shaw tries to program a cesarean, only to find that this MedPod has been calibrated to service only male bodies. Yet another impediment to accessing care, it’s a hurdle familiar to millions of women. Much of Western medical research has been built around the concept of the 70-kg Man.

Also known as Reference Man, this model was assumed to be the standard human body type and used to study everything from the effects of radioactivity to organ transplants and public health. While this framework may provide a baseline for comparison, it’s a limited and myopic paradigm that ignores physiological differences between the bodies of women and children, not to mention men of varying sizes. 

An Extreme C-Section From Hell

Though Scott will eventually reveal the reason for this MedPod calibration, its setting reflects an unfortunate truth about the medical world. With male bodies viewed as the norm, women are treated as variants, and women’s health is viewed as an optional specialty. Female patients have routinely been left out of clinical trials studying ailments like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The agony of IUD insertion is still widely dismissed, and companies did not test feminine hygiene products with actual human blood until the year 2023. We’ve been conditioned to see pain as an acceptable part of female life and told that legitimate symptoms are in our heads, harkening back to the days of hysterectomies and lobotomies performed on inconvenient and ungovernable women.  

But in the year 2089, Shaw is able to find a workaround. Describing her condition as a penetrating wound, she recalibrates the machine to perform the removal of a foreign body.

Shaw climbs into the machine and injects herself with local painkillers, bracing herself for surgery. As the fetus visibly pulses inside her womb, a laser descends to make an incision across her abdomen while mechanical arms spread the wound apart. Metal forceps then plunge into her belly and pull out what looks like a grayish sack. This membrane instantly bursts, splashing blood and viscera all over her torso. Shaw frantically reaches inside herself to roughly sever the umbilical cord while the squid-like creature tries to escape the grip of the MedPod’s metal arms. 

This moment of extreme body horror is frighteningly similar to cesarean birth. The mother is typically strapped to an operating table and remains awake throughout the procedure, numbed with a spinal block or epidural. On the other side of a surgical drape, doctors create an incision similar to Shaw’s and manually stretch the skin apart. Many believe that doctors remove vital organs, placing them on top of the mother to get to the baby. While organs typically stay inside the body, it’s common to feel aggressive movement as the bladder and intestines are jostled around. Once a pathway has been cleared, the baby is cut from the uterus and then taken to receive its own medical care. 

The MedPod Scene Reflects Real-World Fears

While cesarean deliveries can be beautiful and empowering, Shaw’s experience is unthinkable. She is not presented with a crying infant, but an alien creature desperate to attack the body from which it emerged. Seconds after the machine closes the eight-inch incision, shooting rapid-fire staples into her flesh, Shaw frantically opens the MedBay doors and slides past the writhing creature. This again mirrors the experience of a cesarean birth, as many women begin nursing their infant while doctors are stitching their bodies back together. That’s not to mention those denied maternity leave who must return to work before they’ve adequately recovered from major surgery.

I do not write this essay to problematize C-sections or vilify the dedicated doctors and nurses who perform them every day. I was born through a cesarean and delivered both of my children surgically. But I wish someone had prepared me for the torturous experience of an emergency c-section, not to mention the pain of recovery. Like Shaw, I remember being horrified by the feeling of hands moving inside my body, pushing and pulling my organs around. We’ve been conditioned to see birth as a beautiful moment of bonding and connection between mother and child, leaving first-time parents unprepared for the messy and often frightening reality.  

Women living in the United States now have fewer reproductive rights than they did when a baby xenomorph burst out of Kane’s chest in 1979. Prometheus and its hellish c-section remain a mirror to this frightening scene, but now reflect a more hellish reality, confronting modern audiences with the terror of healthcare denied. After all, it shouldn’t be only in science fiction where pregnant women have the resources to save their own lives. 

The post The Most Horrifying Scene in Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus’: The C-Section from Hell appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

From The Lure director Agnieszka Smoczyńska, the dystopian sci-fi thriller will be released in North American theaters on August 21 via Focus Features.

It will open against Insidious: Out of the Further, along with the action thriller Mutiny, the comedy Spa Weekend, and the crime thriller The Rivals of Amziah King.

Hot Spot is set in a near future society ruled by sentient AI, where a private eye investigates a murder case, only to discover a rebel group capable of undermining the digital overlord.

Andrzej Konopka (The Lure), Noomi Rapace (Prometheus), and Reika Kirishima (Drive My Car) star. Robert Bolesto (The Lure) penned the script.

The Polish-Greek co-production is produced by Poland’s Madants and its partners and Greece’s Neda Film and its partners.

Focus Features’ other upcoming genre titles include Obsession on May 15 and Robert Egger’s Werwulf on December 25.

The post ‘The Lure’ Director’s AI Thriller ‘Hot Spot’ Set for August Theatrical Release appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Vasilisa Kuzmina will write and direct the film, which is said to have elements of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and the ritualistic tension of Midsommar.

Rapace stars as Magda, the enigmatic and resilient leader of an entirely female-led community she built in the wake of a devastating civil war. Simmonds plays Elle, a devoted follower in Magda’s cause.

The feature opens as Magda’s son returns from the front to this world without men, with his arrival stirring a growing unease among the group. As the women’s hostility mounts and unimaginable violence begins to unfold, he comes to fear that the truth about what they’ve built — and what they’ve done to protect it — may cost him his life.

The film draws inspiration from real events in Hungary between the 1910s and 1920s, when a tightly knit group of women in a small village, led by a charismatic figure known as Auntie Suzy, began murdering their abusive husbands in an effort to reclaim control of their lives. Known as the Angel Makers of Nagyrév, the group killed between 50 and several hundred men.

No Man’s Land is set to begin shooting in Spain in April 2026.

Juliana Lubin is producing with Frank Ariza’s AF Films in association with Boom Films and Rapace, who also serves as executive producer.

AF Films will distribute in Spain. Goodfellas will launch sales at the American Film Market next week.

“Producing No Man’s Land has been one of the most ambitious and creatively fulfilling experiences of my career,” said Ariza. “At AF Films, we’ve built a legacy of producing stories that challenge audiences while showcasing the depth of European cinema — and this film is no exception.”

Ariza continues, “Shooting in Spain allows us to bring authenticity and atmosphere to Vasilisa’s powerful vision, blending striking artistry with emotional truth. It’s a project that pushes boundaries, unites remarkable talent, and reflects exactly the kind of daring, world-class filmmaking we’re proud to champion.”

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Kelsey Asbille (Don’t Move), Nicholas Alexander Chavez (“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”), Ben Platt (Pitch Perfect), Emma Roberts (Scream 4), Laura Harrier (Spider-Man: Homecoming), and Noomi Rapace (Prometheus) are set to star.

McGreevy also wrote the script, although plot details are being kept under wraps.

Miles Skinner of Hypothesis and Andrea Bucko of Raised By Wolves are producing alongside Jordan Drake, David Duque-Estrada, Chadd Harbold, and Russ Posternak.

Zak Williams of Hypothesis, Jordan Claire Robbins, and Nini Le Huynh of Raised By Wolves are executive producing alongside John Kalafatis, Joanna Kalafatis, and Daniel Cypress of York Films, as well as Chris K. Daniels of Cinelaunch and Emanuele Morretti.

The post Emma Roberts, Kelsey Asbille, Noomi Rapace to Star in Psychological Thriller ‘The Technique’ from “Hemlock Grove” Creator appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In the second episode, the Halloweenies discuss the cast, the great graphics, their favorite scene, and more. Conversations range from Peter Weyland’s impeccable track record as a humanitarian, to fan theories involving Vickers, to Michael Fassbender‘s range as an actor.

Stream the episode below or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, RadioPublic, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS. New to the Halloweenies? Catch up with the gang by revisiting their essential episodes on past franchises such as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Scream, The Evil Dead, and Chucky. This year? Alien.

You can also become a member of their Patreon, The Rewind, for even more hilariously irreverent commentaries (e.g. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Darkman) and one-off deep dives on your favorite rentals (e.g. Poltergeist, Manhunter, Phantasm). Each month promises something new and unexpected from the wildest corners of the genre.

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In case you missed it, here’s Pt. 1 from last week…

The post ‘Prometheus’ Turns A-List Stars Into C-List Characters [Halloweenies Podcast] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The site reports this afternoon, “Prometheus and Constellation star Rapace is replacing Christina Hendricks who is no longer attached due to scheduling conflicts, we understand.”

Nissar Modi (Z for Zachariah) is writing and directing Reckoner.

“The plot will follow an affluent woman whose carefully constructed life is disrupted by a young man connected to a tightly-held secret from her past.”

The film is based on a short story written by Rachel Ingalls.

XYZ Films and Two & Two Pictures are producing.

“We are immensely excited to join forces with an exceptionally talented team for Reckoner. It is an honour to have Noomi Rapace on board to complement Nissar’s electrifying directorial debut,” Two & Two Pictures said in an official statement shared by Deadline today.

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Deadline reports that Noomi Rapace (Prometheus) will also star.

Zach Strauss wrote the screenplay and will direct Palette.

In Palette, “Schafer stars as Dolly, a woman suffering from extreme synesthesia, a rare condition through which she is able to hear colors.

“She is recruited into a secretive, cult-like industry of color design, where she discovers the dark reality of what it takes to make the world’s greatest hues.”

Deadline also notes in today’s report, “Rapace will play the company’s enigmatic executive Latrice and Frankie Shaw has joined the cast as Sidney, Hunter’s cutthroat rival.”

“I feel beyond lucky to be making this dark and twisted movie with a truly exceptional cast and with such incredible partners in Anton, I know we’re going to create something really special,” said Strauss.

The post ‘Palette’ – Hunter Schafer and Noomi Rapace Will Lead the Cast of This Psychological Horror Movie appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Watch the official trailer for the psychological sci-fi/horror series below.

Created and written by Peter Harness (“Wallander,” “The War of the Worlds”), “Constellation” stars Rapace as Jo – an astronaut who returns to Earth after a disaster in space – only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing. The action-packed space adventure is an exploration of the dark edges of human psychology, and one woman’s desperate quest to expose the truth about the hidden history of space travel and recover all that she has lost.

The series also stars James D’Arcy (“Agent Carter,” “Oppenheimer”), Julian Looman (“Emily in Paris,” The Mallorca Files”), William Catlett (“A Thousand and One,” “The Devil You Know”), Barbara Sukowa (“Voyager,” “Hannah Arendt”), and introduces Rosie and Davina Coleman as Alice.

The series is directed by Emmy Award winner Michelle MacLaren (“Shining Girls,” “The Morning Show,” “Breaking Bad”), Oscar nominee Oliver Hirschbiegel (“Downfall,” “The Experiment”) and Oscar nominee Joseph Cedar (“Footnote,” “Our Boys”).

Produced by Turbine Studios and Haut et Court TV, the series is executive produced by David Tanner (“Small Axe”), Tracey Scoffield (“Small Axe”), Caroline Benjo (“No Man’s Land”), Simon Arnal (“No Man’s Land”), Carole Scotta (“No Man’s Land”) and Justin Thomson (“Liaison”). MacLaren directs the first two episodes and executive produces the series with Rebecca Hobbs (“Shining Girls”) and co-executive producer Jahan Lopes for MacLaren Entertainment. Harness executive produces through Haunted Barn Ltd. The series was shot principally in Germany and was Series Produced by Daniel Hetzer (‘Munich – Edge of War”) for Turbine Studios, Germany.

The post “Constellation” Trailer – Noomi Rapace Returns to Space in Apple’s Psychological Thriller Series appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Trace and I are recovering from our live show at Salem Horror Festival this past weekend, but in April we kept busy with episodes on Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Tony Scott’s The Hunger, and, most recently, queer Black writer/director Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess (which just celebrated its 50th anniversary!)

Last week we celebrated Alien Day 2023 with a look back at Ridley Scott‘s 2012 Alien prequel, Prometheus. In the film, scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) partner with the Weyland Corporation, run by its elderly benefactor (Guy Pearce) and supervised by his android “son” David (Michael Fassbender), to investigate the origins of mankind on a distant alien world.

There they discover a strange pyramid with remnants of a group of Engineers. But when Holloway and a few others get sick, the crew realizes that they may have been wrong about the benevolence of their creator Gods.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, TuneIn, Amazon Music, Acast, Google Podcasts, and RSS.

Episode 227 – Prometheus (2012)

We’re celebrating Alien Day with Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel, Prometheus (2012), a film that sparks plenty of debate with guests Ian Carlos and Zach Patton-Garcia of My Bloody Judy.

This is a beautiful, divisive film, filled with heady philosophical questions about life and religion, and also scientists who take off their helmets on alien planets and can’t run left or right.

Plus: Charlize Theron hate from Zach, mouth rape, Honest Trailer reactions, gays who can’t do math, why Vickers deserved to live, and lots of talk about (former episode) Alien: Covenant and the two Alien vs Predator films.

Cross out Prometheus!

Coming up on Wednesday: We’re talking about queer best friend at the emotional center of the 1986 genre mash-up, Night of the Creeps. If you want a hint, check out our editorial from back in the day.

P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for more than 239 hours of additional content! This month, we’ve going all in on The Evil Dead with episodes outlining our thoughts on the whole franchise, the new entry Evil Dead Rise, and an audio commentary on the 1981 original. Plus we’re covering Amazon’s new (very queer) series Dead Ringers and the Lulu Wilson-starring sequel, The Wrath of Becky.

The post The Intriguing Philosophy and Dumb Scientists of ‘Prometheus’ [Horror Queers Podcast] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Sweden’s civil war has ripped a daughter away from former speed skater Caroline Edh (Rapace) and turned her into a hardened soldier. As the battle rages on, threatening complete genocide for her losing side, she’s enlisted with a dangerous mission to transport mysterious canisters across a frozen archipelago with five other recruits. The group faces insurmountable odds and mortal danger, with no safe bet for survival.

Director Adam Berg’s feature debut, co-written by Pelle Rådström and based on a novel by Jerker Virdborg, occasionally demonstrates strong composition. An early scene that sees six skaters escaping blazing gunfire in the background, silhouetted by a dusky sky, teases a stunning thriller that never comes to pass. So, too, does the imagery of corpses trapped in ice, like an arctic graveyard, for the group to navigate. But Berg opts to keep most of his thriller relegated to a flat, dreary grey look as dismal as the mood and set pieces to become as nondescript as the entire setup.

Everything hinges entirely on Rapace’s Caroline to engender rooting interest. The cause of the war is never explained, nor is the enemy ever defined. We’re just dropped in the middle of a mindless, raging battle that’s seemingly left the world in an endless, wintry conflict fueled by general hate. Black Crab does the bare minimum to flesh out Caroline’s allies. Only Rapace gets an arc, and it’s a relatively small one as she’s driven by a singular, unwavering purpose. It makes it tough to care when those allies start dying, even when the deaths are used in a jarring demonstration of how ruthless Caroline can be to reach her goals.

Everyone’s a bit too disposable to add tension or stakes. It makes the entire thing rather rote and predictable. The novel idea of ice skating does inject a few unique action sequences, but Black Crab frequently drops it for more familiar terrain. An attempt to shake things up by interjecting a moral dilemma in the third act fails to impact or add any excitement into the mix. Caroline may be tough as nails, but she’s ten steps behind the viewer. Rapace does the best she can with what she’s given but can’t rise above the superficial material.

Ultimately, Black Crab makes for a serviceable but forgettable experience. A few fleeting glimpses of something more get swept away by an avalanche of uninspired choices and plot beats. There are no surprises in store, just a one-note thriller that never wavers in its commitment to a gloomy but extremely vague dystopia.

Black Crab releases on Netflix on March 18, 2022.

The post ‘Black Crab’ Review – Noomi Rapace Skates Through Netflix’s Lifeless Dystopian Thriller appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

For starters, The Aisle Seat calls You Won’t Be Alone “the best folk horror film since The Witch,” while other reviews call the “haunting, transcendent, erotic” film a “masterpiece.”

The film releases in theaters on April 1, 2022.

Watch the You Won’t Be Alone trailer below.

The film is “Set in an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, the film follows a young girl who is kidnapped and then transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit. Curious about life as a human, the young witch accidentally kills a peasant in the nearby village and then takes her victim’s shape to live life in her skin. Her curiosity ignited, she continues to wield this horrific power in order to understand what it means to be human.”

You Won’t Be Alone marks the feature debut by Australian-Macedonian writer/director Goran Stolevski. Kristina Ceyton (The Babadook, The Nightingale) and Sam Jennings (Cargo) produce.

Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert (Ratched), Carloto Cotta, Félix Maritaud, and Sara Klimoska star alongside Noomi Rapace (Prometheus, Lamb, Netflix’s Black Crab).

The post ‘You Won’t Be Alone’ Trailer Praises “The Best Folk Horror Film Since The Witch” appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Bloody Disgusting has a trio of new images from the film in which Rapace embarks on a skin-crawling journey to become a witch.

In the film…

“Set in an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, the film follows a young girl who is kidnapped and then transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit. Curious about life as a human, the young witch accidentally kills a peasant in the nearby village and then takes her victim’s shape to live life in her skin. Her curiosity ignited, she continues to wield this horrific power in order to understand what it means to be human.”

Meagan Navarro reviewed the dramatic thriller, writing, “You Won’t Be Alone is a sensory examination of humanity through witchy folk horror.”

You Won’t Be Alone marks the feature debut by Australian-Macedonian writer/director Goran Stolevski. Kristina Ceyton (The Babadook, The Nightingale) and Sam Jennings (Cargo) produce.

The film also stars Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert (Ratched), Carloto Cotta, Félix Maritaud, and Sara Klimoska.

The post Fresh Shots of Noomi Rapace in Focus Features ‘You Won’t Be Alone’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In Black Crab, coming to Netflix on March 18…

“During a long, harsh winter, six soldiers embark on a covert mission across a frozen archipelago, risking their lives to transport a mysterious package that could end the war.

“As they enter hostile enemy territory, they have no idea what dangers lie ahead or who—if anyone—they can trust. But for speed skater turned soldier Caroline Edh, the mission is about something else entirely.”

Prometheus star Noomi Rapace, who also executive produced, stars alongside Jakob Oftebro, Erik Enge, Dar Salim, Ardalan Esmaili, Aliette Opheim, and David Dencik.

The film is based on the book Black Crab by Jerker Virdborg. Adam Berg directed Black Crab, which he co-wrote with Pelle Rådström. Watch the official Black Crab trailer below.

The post Netflix’s ‘Black Crab’ Trailer Traps Noomi Rapace in a Post-Apocalyptic World of Ice appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In Black Crab, coming to Netflix on March 18…

“Set in a post-apocalyptic world, this Swedish action thriller follows six soldiers sent on a covert mission to transport a mysterious package across a frozen archipelago without knowing what dangers lie ahead or who they can trust.”

Prometheus star Noomi Rapace, who also executive produced, stars alongside Jakob Oftebro, Erik Enge, Dar Salim, Ardalan Esmaili, Aliette Opheim, and David Dencik.

The film is based on the book Black Crab by Jerker Virdborg. Adam Berg directed Black Crab, which he co-wrote with Pelle Rådström. Check out some first look images below.

And expect a trailer for Netflix’s Black Crab very soon.

The post Netflix’s ‘Black Crab’ – First Look Plunges Noomi Rapace into a Post Apocalyptic Winter appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In an isolated Macedonian mountain village in the 19th century, a woman goes about her daily chores until she discovers an old witch (Annamaria Marinca) standing over her baby. After pleading and a blood exchange, a bargain is struck, though the woman soon after attempts to hide the baby until she’s sixteen. The witch eventually returns to claim the sheltered teen Nevena (Sara Klimoska), transforming then abandoning her. The feral girl soon finds herself borrowing the skins of others, assuming their lives, and observing human behavior.

Almost like a series of vignettes that skip through some of life’s most important milestones, You Won’t Be Alone is a heady mood piece that can get a bit unwieldy in its most prolonged, quietest stretches. And there are many. Stolevski favors aesthetics over dialogue and a conventional narrative. Nevena grew up in a cave before being tossed old coldly into the world like a newborn. Her savage curiosity leads to harsh and primal lessons on life and death, as well as the cruel, superstitious world that created an ancient witch shaped in the first place.

Actors Noomi Rapace, Alice Englert, and Carloto Cotta stand out as borrowed skins for the young witch to observe humanity firsthand. They provide emotion and introspection, a contrast to Nevena’s blank slate. They offer near silent contemplations on the tangible world around them. Nevena’s curiosity is insatiable; she explores childhood, sexuality, all genders, and ages. It’s often without purpose; Nevena’s explorations are impulsive and aimless.

Stolevski successfully creates a stunning mood piece that makes its profound emotions felt and the world tactile and textured. He captures the beauty without shying away from the harsh and ugly. It’s an impressive debut with a firm grasp on visuals and tone, but it’s also glacial in pacing and without easy footholds into Nevena’s journey.

You Won’t Be Alone makes for a strange, almost otherworldly folk tale. There’s no real narrative to anchor audiences; it’s a listless drift through lives and moments. Its enchanting spell ebbs and flows, depending on the skin Nevena claws for herself, sometimes by complete accident. All of it makes for a poignant and immersive sensory experience, but one that’s incohesive and unhurried. Stolevski doesn’t quite stick the landing of his circle of life metaphor, but there’s enough artistic merit and splendor to impress those with more avant-garde and adventurous tastes.

You Won’t Be Alone releases in theaters on April 1, 2022.

The post [Sundance Review] ‘You Won’t Be Alone’ Is a Sensory Examination of Humanity Through Witchy Folk Horror appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Horror has made the most of this unusual year by offering a king-sized buffet of options across all platforms. A great avenue for the profitable genre, yet something that has made a list like this ludicrously hard to research and narrow down. Simply put, there was no shortage of great film performances in horror for 2021. A realistic list would likely be over 50 entries, but the 15 I’ve chosen are ones that I felt put in the extra mile for their respective films.

The 15 performances listed range from arthouse horror to your good ol’ fashioned slashers and I’m not expecting everyone to fancy them the way I do. But in an oddball year of recovery, the work put in by this list of actors would be foolish to ignore and the thought of readers checking even just one of these films out is enough justification for me. It’s been a year of unexpected surprises and here’s to highlighting them with the 15 Best Horror Film Performances of 2021!

15: Melanie Laurent – Oxygen

Single location stories often run the risk of feeling small-scale and insignificant because just how terrifying can one simple room be? Or in the case of Alexandre Aja’s Netflix horror-thriller Oxygen, a single confined space populated by a confused and horrified Melanie Laurent? Oxygen strays from the over-the-top carnage of Aja’s previous efforts in Piranha 3D and High Tension and creates a visceral experience from the simple premise of a woman who wakes up inside a cryogenic chamber that is running out of oxygen. She does not know how she got there nor even who she is. All she knows is that she does not have much time before suffocating.

Laurent, most famous for her role as Shosanna in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds, is a one-woman act in Oxygen, selling the gradually increasing terror and paranoia of someone with seemingly no options for escape. Laurent charms the audience with her sly quips at the gravity of her situation, but it’s never at the expense of the film’s consistently tense tone. Barring flashbacks and some unexpected developments in the second act, she keeps the film grounded and in the moment, making us fear for a nameless person’s safety with such ease. Laurent is the heart of this twisty sci-fi horror-thriller, proving why she remains one of France’s most talented and versatile actresses.

14: Lonnie Chavis – The Boy Behind the Door

An uncomfortable hybrid between a coming-of-age flick and a traditional cat-and-mouse horror ride, The Boy Behind the Door thrives in its simplicity. Two best friends, Bobby and Kevin, are walking home from school when they are kidnapped by an unseen person. Bobby manages to escape from the trunk of a car, but the screams of Kevin from inside a large and looming house are too much for him to ignore. What follows is a nail-biting rescue mission spearheaded by Lonnie Chavis in a star-making horror performance for the Shudder exclusive film.

With Kevin mostly out of sight and the kidnapper’s face not even being revealed for most of the film, all the pressure is on Chavis’s shoulders to carry this film. It’s a task Chavis accomplishes with an impressive mixture of understandable naivety and panicked intensity at having to play the hero of his best friend’s horror story. He immediately endears us to him with the care he shows for Kevin, leading the audience to cheer on someone who doesn’t take the opportunity to save themselves from certain danger because friendship truly is power. The film itself can be riddled with a tad too many horror clichés, but Chavis’s lead performance as the unexpectedly brave Bobby will hopefully only be the beginning for the young star.

13: Roman Griffin Davis – Silent Night

I surely wasn’t expecting Roman Griffin Davis’s next memorable follow-up to his winning performance in Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit to be a festive end-of-the-world doomsday comedy, but here we are. Silent Night mixes the irritating passive-aggressive vibes of faking civility during Christmas dinner with the impending doom of a poisonous gas cloud that is predicted to kill off the population of the world come the next morning. A last minute suicide pill is distributed to citizens of the U.K. and most are happy with taking themselves out without much struggle – except for Roman Griffin Davis’s Arthur, the lone detractor amongst his willing family on an already awkward Christmas night. A dash of doubt and suddenly Davis turns in one of the year’s most empathetic and challenging performances.

Arthur is quick to question why everyone is so keen on giving up, regularly offering fleeting moments of cathartic logic on a night of deep insecurities and lies coming out in the open. Deep into the night and with the cloud looming ever closer, Davis gets more chances to show off his dramatic chops with an increasingly emotional turn as a boy desperate for a tinge of hope. Davis outright steals the movie once he becomes fully confrontational to his parents, standing out among a talented and committed ensemble that aren’t given the emotional core Art is. Davis is the beating heart of an otherwise grim Christmas horror-dramedy that I hope becomes a niche Christmas tradition in the future.

12: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II – Candyman

It should be stated that Tony Todd’s iconic performance as Candyman can never truly be replicated. Todd’s signature shadowy whisper of a voice combined with his menacing, yet alluring presence was sorely missed in Nia DaCosta’s adaptation of Candyman. It leaves a noticeable void lingering in every shot of this movie, but what we missed with Tony Todd was replaced by a bold imagining of the Candyman legend led by the always great Yahya Abdul Mateen II. Mateen plays Anthony McCoy, a visual artist attempting to incorporate Black trauma into his art when he comes across the legend of Candyman and forms an uncomfortably intimate connection with it.

Abdul-Mateen II plays both sides of the fence beautifully in Candyman; Anthony is flawed and sympathetic as an artist in way over his head, making his descent into a paranoid and increasingly unstable mess so much more heart wrenching. Mateen can sell insanity, but there’s glimmers of humanity beautifully sprinkled in his tragedy that more than make up for the film’s faults. The best thing Mateen could do was separate himself from the aura of Todd’s interpretation while keeping in line with the mythology of Candyman and damned if Morpheus 2021 doesn’t do exactly that.

11: Jeremy Thomas – Antlers

One of the many cinematic victims of Covid-19, Antlers’ heavily delayed release slowly shifted it away from the public conscience, leading to a muted opening weekend. A true shame not just for the cast and crew who clearly went above and beyond to make this one of the best looking films of the year, but for its main star Jeremy Thomas as well. Playing a boy who is hiding a terrible family secret that is responsible for some strange murders in a small town, Thomas soars as the soft-spoken boy at the heart of it all and his inner conflict dealing with the severity of a fractured home life is the real core of Antlers.

Thomas gets relatively little dialogue compared to his adult co-stars, but his grim silence and understated performance speaks volumes to Thomas’s natural talent as an actor. Even when the story becomes too complicated for its own good, Thomas sells the terror of his horrific family situation uncomfortably well. Of course it doesn’t hurt that he is given the most narrative depth as opposed to everybody else who unfortunately cannot save the missteps in their own character writing. Thomas is the real star of Antlers and for the many who may still be on the fence about the movie itself, his performance gives the film a fighting chance at the very least.

10: Emily Rudd – Fear Street: 1978

One of the breakout hits of 2021, Fear Street is a trilogy that is solid throughout with an emotionally compelling story woven into the three films. 1994 offered an intriguing beginning to the series, but the bleak heartbreak of 1978 was what solidified the series as a genuinely brutal horror-comedy. Emily Rudd’s star-making turn as Cindy Berman is owed massive thanks for that. Playing one of the teenagers who is unfortunately present during the Camp Nightwing massacre of 1978, the live action pick for One Piece’s Nami puts in the work as the uptight and rule-abiding sister to the rebellious and angsty Ziggy, creating one of the most interesting slasher movie protagonists in recent memory.

We are used to seeing the archetype of the “good girl” in slashers, but Rudd injects a sense of longing into Cindy; she’s the preppy do-gooder that has damaged her relationships with her friends and family as a result. Rudd portrays a girl desperate to cling on to a sense of normalcy and completely envelops herself in Cindy, making it all the nerve-wracking to see her run for her life from her possessed ax-wielding boyfriend. Her performance isn’t as showy as some of the others in the Fear Street series, but her wonderful sense of drama with a keen knack for comedic timing catapulted her from the supporting sidelines to one of the strongest horror surprises of 2021.

9: Diana Rigg – Last Night in Soho

For Edgar Wright’s latest horror effort, it was difficult to choose my favorite for the whole show. Thomasin McKenzie anchors the insanity of Last Night in Soho’s time travel/sixth sense ghost story even when it narratively derails and Anya Taylor-Joy’s dark and empathetic turn as the aspiring singer McKenzie’s Ellie finds a kindred spirit in makes for a harrowing and well-done dynamic between the duo. Great work from both women, but Last Night in Soho’s MVP comes in the form of the late, great Diana Rigg of Game of Thrones and 1960s Avengers fame with her performance as Ms. Collins, the owner of the bedsit where Ellie begins to travel back to the dark underbelly of the 1960s at night.

Collins remains of the few characters sympathetic to Ellie in the film and Rigg plays her with such an air of mystery, sharing Ellie’s love for the allure of the 60s while mostly keeping in the shadows from people. But Rigg comes and outright steals the film’s second act, turning in a tense and sinister performance that is played with a sense of alarming casualness. Rigg gradually becomes an intimidating presence elevated by her stone-cold demeanor hiding years of trauma and pain. Whatever faults pop up in Last Night in Soho (and there are quite a few) are balanced with Rigg’s sneak attack of a performance.

8: Cillian Murphy – A Quiet Place: Part Two

A Quiet Place was a riveting directorial debut for John Krasinski that gambled big time with an ending that was a blatant cliffhanger and teaser for a sequel that may have never come had the film failed. But through that and Covid delaying the film to this year, Part Two proves itself to be a worthwhile sequel that brings the Abbott family back, this time going on a dangerous expedition away from home. Along the way, they encounter Emmett, an old acquaintance from before the creatures first attacked, surviving on his own. A shell of his former self, it was the kind of role that Cillian Murphy was born to play.

Murphy’s performance as Emmett would be if you took his shaken and war-torn character from Dunkirk, fused him with his lost and confused self from 28 Days Later and stuck him in a world destroyed by an alien apocalypse. Emmett looks out for himself and did not hesitate to leave people to their doom during the early days of the attack. Murphy’s affinity for characters riddled with PTSD plays in strong contrast to Krasinski’s Lee from the first film, offering a new dynamic that adds a new depth to the world of A Quiet Place. A film just as much about Emmett overcoming his trauma as it is about the Abbott family and Murphy’s subtle intensity runs away with the entire movie in the process.

7: Morfydd Clark – Saint Maud

A24 has become something of an icon for fans of artsy and niche horror and though the fandom can seem a bit overwhelming at first, the distribution company’s following is not without reason. A24 is the home for smaller auteur directors getting a chance to prove themselves and Rose Glass is the latest example with her brilliant psychological horror film, Saint Maud. Starring Morfydd Clark as Katie, a Roman Catholic woman who works as a private nurse, Saint Maud functions as a riveting character study of a woman grappling with her newfound faith as she becomes attached to a wealthy atheist patient whom she feels obligated to save.

Not an exciting premise, but Clark’s wildfire performance is the rare double whammy of entertaining and compelling. Katie wrestling with the duality of her faith and the stubborn beliefs of her patient lead her down an unhinged path that Clark plays to perfection. There is a genuine sense of realism to how Clark carries herself onscreen, even down to her demeanor when walking down a street. You’d think small touches like that wouldn’t be entertaining, but Clark’s bursts of feistiness compliment her naturalistic performance and gives Saint Maud a unique brand of dark energy. A frightening showcase for the Welsh actress who lifts Saint Maud above the majority of the horror field in the 2020s.

6: Rebecca Hall – The Night House

It’s 2021 and by this time, we’ve seemingly reached our wits’ end with haunted house movies, right? Watching a character creep around in the dark of their spirit-infested home has become as tired a cliché as a record scratch to indicate that we should be laughing our hearts out. Luckily, David Bruckner of V/H/S fame understands the very nature of those clichés so that he can subvert them to unsettling results with The Night House. In it, Rebecca Hall is a revelation as a woman named Beth stricken with grief, finding herself driven to madness over her deceased husband’s ominous and mysterious suicide note.

As her house seemingly begins to awaken at night and she finds blueprints for a reversed version of their home, Hall is given the opportunity to mix standard haunted house creepiness with her work as a woman whose depression and PTSD is leading to an increasing number of erratic mood swings. Some of the film’s best scenes are far-removed from the house itself and simply revolve around Beth lashing out at the people around her. Her sudden need to explain the nature of her husband’s suicide to an unsuspecting parent of one of her students lands her a spot on this list all by itself, but The Night House thrives throughout its entire runtime with Hall’s towering performance that would be an Oscar contender if the world was all right. But I’ll take what I can get.

5: Matthias Schweighöfer – Army of the Dead

Zack Snyder’s return to the zombie genre has yielded great results with Army of the Dead, the heist horror-comedy that has managed to already spawn a franchise with prequel Army of Thieves. Not surprising that the prequel only focuses on one character from Army of the Dead since Matthias Schweighöfer’s wonderfully endearing work as talented safecracker Ludwig Dieter easily steals Snyder’s entire movie away from its already solid cast. Joining the makeshift heist team tasked with robbing a casino inside a zombified Las Vegas, Dieter comes out of left field to become the film’s breakout character thanks to Schweighöfer’s electric chemistry with the cast.

On his own, Dieter is a talented goofball in way over his head with the new mission, but it’s his interactions with the crew that truly allow him to shine. Schweighöfer’s sincere comedic timing brilliantly contrasts with the badass vibes of the rest of the crew. His bonding moments with Omari Hardwick’s Vanderohe are something straight out of a buddy comedy, never feeling out of place in a Zack Snyder zombie movie. Dieter is interesting enough to lead a movie on his own, but his supporting role in Army is where he is best used, allowing Matthias to carve out a name for himself among the zombie genre’s most entertaining and watchable characters. In a genre where human characters are more often than not just bodies for James A. Janisse to compile for a YouTube list, Schweighöfer’s Dieter refuses such a label.

4: Chris Sheffield – The Block Island Sound

I wasn’t sure what to expect when turning on Netflix and deciding to boot up The Block Island Sound late at night. Was I expecting to see indie darling Jim Cummings playing a seaside conspiracy theorist? Not really. Did I expect the film to turn into a Lovecraftian-inspired sci-fi horror tale of unusual phenomena plaguing the New York island? Of course not. I sure as hell was not expecting a legitimate top 5 of the year contender with Chris Sheffield’s criminally underrated performance as Harry, the son of a local and recently deceased fisherman who was waking up in strange places days before his death.

Despite the horror appearing grand scale on the surface, Sheffield’s Harry is the core of this sci-fi tale, dealing with the death of his father and his own rapidly deteriorating mental health. Sheffield masterfully uses facial expressions to communicate the slow destruction of Harry’s mind, carrying what could have been a flavorless attempt at cosmic horror to a heightened emotional level. The Block Island Sound may not always be heavy on plot, but Chris Sheffield is the anchor needed for the film to soar past its limitations. Here for Sheffield to demonstrate his tight grasp on nuanced drama in more roles for the future.

3: Vincent Lindon – Titane

I could not for the life of me explain the general plot of Titane from director Julia Ducournau even if I dumbed it down. Following an even stranger vibe than her previous film Raw, Titane follows a serial killer on the run who shacks up with a lonely fire captain who is still grieving over the disappearance of his son years back. It’s a seemingly random pairing that pulls through to become one of, if not arguably the best, duo-led film of the year. One half of that magic equation is the supremely talented Vincent Lindon in the role of that fire captain, giving one of the most heartfelt performances in a horror film you’re likely to ever come across.

Lindon throws himself into the role of a man who is trying so hard to keep his body going, resorting to steroids and unusual workout routines that do him more harm than good. The man is falling apart at the seams and despite his issues, Vincent makes him an almost instantly endearing figure through the natural touches he adds to the character. As he bonds with the most unlikely figure ever, it’s still hard not to cheer him on when Vincent adds such a strong humanity to his character’s writing. As much a friendship movie as it is a horror film (with a surprisingly sturdy kill count), Titane is a showcase for the understated talent of Vincent Lindon, who instantly elevates and humanizes EVERY scene he’s in here, even when the whole car thing becomes more prominent.

2: Noomi Rapace – Lamb

A married couple still coping over the loss of their child put all of their love into their new adopted lamb-human hybrid baby. That’s the plot of Lamb. Unusual yet simple in its introduction. It seems destined to fail because we have to believe that a human couple would be this loving and dedicated towards a hybrid baby, but Noomi Rapace puts those fears to rest with a powerhouse of a performance that is just as much about her character as it is about the aforementioned lamb baby.

Repace sells the stilted and awkward misery of her life without a child with such frightening realism that it’s easy to still be on her side even as she blatantly destroys the life of one mother to finally have a child to call her own. There is a darkness to Rapace’s Maria that fully forms the conflicted nature of her character and it results in several powerful moments showcasing the intense versatility of the woman with the dragon tattoo. Maria is a mother with an animalistic instinct to protect her lamb/human hybrid child, leading Rapace towards a possible career-best performance that is simultaneously frightening, heartbreaking, and wonderfully realized.

1: Agathe Rousselle – Titane

It’s one thing for an experienced actor to show you the years they’ve spent mastering their craft paying off onscreen for us. For some people, years of experience and training can lead to a brick wall with no signs of further progress. But it’s genuinely miraculous for someone to turn in a year-end topping performance on their feature length debut. Rousselle, who has previously worked as a journalist for feminist magazine Peach (of which she is a co-founder), made her feature length debut for Ducournau’s Titane, playing opposite the previously mentioned Vincent Lindon as the serial killer who holes up with the fire captain. In the process of her character Alexia’s journey, Rousselle is given the opportunity to display her talent for playing seemingly different characters in a single movie and she is absolutely mesmerizing.

The first quarter has Rousselle playing everyone like a fiddle, setting herself up as a tired showgirl at a motor show, being hounded by fans as she apathetically autographs their belongings. Then she uses trickery to take her hair pin and viciously murder an invasive fan of hers and now we’re watching the life of a serial killer who has a strange kink for cars. Rousselle’s scowl scares harder than the entire runtime for most horror films and she is completely believable in such a grim role that sees her up the body count in almost record time in the beginning.

But her eventual façade as Vincent’s long lost son (even breaking her own damn nose to look the part) is where Rousselle shines brighter than a star, giving an emotional rollercoaster of a performance while hardly uttering a single word. Playing a man’s missing son is quite fucked, but Alexia’s commitment to the role is able to help us shift her into the identity so much easier. I’ve barely seen reviews praising her inane ability to clearly develop Alexia into a lost soul looking for companionship and it’s a damn shame. She is the very heart of Titane and contains all that I look for in a great horror performance. Terrifying and intimidating in one breath and able to win your heart with her raw (get it) humanity in the next, Agathe Rousselle is THE horror MVP of 2021 and I cannot wait to see what she does next.

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Meagan writes in her review for BD, “While Lamb may not fully satisfy on a narrative level, it does succeed as an experience. Rapace is the precise actor to lead an oddball movie like this, and the emotional beats resonate. Even if it can be challenging to grasp the peculiarities fully, it tugs at your heartstrings, and Lamb sweeps you up in its melancholic mood.”

After a brief theatrical and at-home PVOD run, A24 has an early Christmas present for horror fans – Lamb is now available on all VOD platforms!

“For me, it’s very much a story about healing, motherhood, and a dream of life even though you lost the one thing you cannot lose,” Rapace told Meagan in our exclusive interview.

Here’s the trailer.

The post It’s a Christmas Miracle! A24’s ‘Lamb’ Is Now on VOD Platforms! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The film is: “Set in an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, the film follows a young girl who is kidnapped and then transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit. Curious about life as a human, the young witch accidentally kills a peasant in the nearby village and then takes her victim’s shape to live life in her skin. Her curiosity ignited, she continues to wield this horrific power in order to understand what it means to be human.”

You Won’t Be Alone marks the feature debut by Australian-Macedonian writer/director Goran Stolevski. Kristina Ceyton (The Babadook, The Nightingale) and Sam Jennings (Cargo) produce.

The film also stars Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert (Ratched), Carloto Cotta, Félix Maritaud, and Sara Klimoska.

You Won’t Be Alone releases in theaters on April 1, 2022.

The post Noomi Rapace Embarks on Skin-Crawling Journey in Witch Movie ‘You Won’t Be Alone’ This April [Trailer] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Per Deadline, Focus Features’ supernatural horror thriller has been set for theatrical release on January 28, 2022.

The film is: “Set in an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, the film follows a young girl who is kidnapped and then transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit. Curious about life as a human, the young witch accidentally kills a peasant in the nearby village and then takes her victim’s shape to live life in her skin. Her curiosity ignited, she continues to wield this horrific power in order to understand what it means to be human.”

You Won’t Be Alone marks the feature debut by Australian-Macedonian writer/director Goran Stolevski. Kristina Ceyton (The Babadook, The Nightingale) and Sam Jennings (Cargo) produce.

The film also stars Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert (Ratched), Carloto Cotta, Félix Maritaud, and Sara Klimoska.

The post Noomi Rapace Gets Witchy in ‘You Won’t Be Alone’ This January appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Jóhannsson shared how this oddball folktale came together, “I knew Sjón’s work; he knew the Icelandic fairytale so well, and he used lots of elements in his books. We came up with the creature because there are no Icelandic folktales about that. We wanted to work in this, kind of a mythical world, but trying to have it as normal as possible, that you would believe it.”

Coming up with the look of Ada, the director would clip and paste various parts of lambs and humans together. “I did a few versions of that, and I thought it was so cute. I thought it was an amazing creature, but it was so funny when I was showing it to other people. They thought it was so creepy,” Jóhannsson laughed about his collage-like designs of Ada.

Lead actress Noomi Rapace (Prometheus, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) took to Jóhannsson and the mood book he’d designed for Lamb. It wasn’t just the more adult fairytale elements that spoke to her or the character of Maria, but the experience of growing up on a farm. She understood Ada immediately, explaining, “I grew up on a farm. We had sheep when I grew up. It was always the mother sheep; if she had four lambs, she would quite often reject one. So, we had one that my sister and I had to feed and was living with us. You know, we pretended that the lamb was our baby. We had to cause the mother didn’t want it. It was almost every summer; it was two or three lambs. They’re quite cruel, the mothers. If there’s one that is slightly weaker, they discard it. Or they pick their favorites.”

While Rapace had plenty of experience raising sheep, she had none when it came to their birth. The short window of lambing season coming to a close meant that Rapace barely had time to arrive on set before filming a live birth scene. “The farmer told me what to do. I saw him deliver one baby before it was my turn. I was like, okay, and I just put my hands in there.”

Rapace explains why she took to Maria, “In a lot of Icelandic families, the woman is the leader. I would say my grandmother in Iceland; she’s running the family. She raised like a lot of kids, including myself. When I was eight or nine, we had a female Icelandic president, and I started realizing out in the world that’s not the reality. She’s like the only one in the world. Maria is she’s a doer. She’s driving the tractor, pulling out the lamb, she’s marking the lambs. Her husband is sitting next to her and making notes in a book.

“It’s almost like when we first get introduced to her, she’s surviving, but she’s not living. It’s almost like her life is on hold. Then, you can feel she has so much pain inside and carrying this grief of losing her daughter. Then, throughout the story, she starts breathing again. For me, it’s very much a story about healing, motherhood, and a dream of life even though you lost the one thing you cannot lose.”

Lamb releases on October 8, 2021.

The post ‘Lamb’: Noomi Rapace and Valdimar Jóhannsson Break Down the Birth of A24’s Latest Folktale [Fantastic Fest] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

In The Trip, soap opera director Lars (Aksel Hennie, The Cloverfield Paradox) and aspiring actress Lisa (Noomi Rapace, Prometheus) are a dysfunctional married couple who head to a remote cabin to help rekindle their dwindling romance. Unfortunately for Lisa, Lars’ intentions are more sinister, as he has plans to murder her and collect the money from her life insurance policy. Unfortunately for Lars, Lisa is a lot more capable of defending herself than he thought possible. And unfortunately for both of them, an even greater threat looms in the area that will force them to put their differences aside and work together to survive one hellish night.

Playing like a bloodier version of The War of the Roses, The Trip is a tricky movie to discuss, if only because there are so many twists and turns that the film takes (even early on), that to reveal certain plot developments would ruin the many, many surprises the film has in store. Suffice it to say there are moments involving double-crosses, a lawnmower, a Nazi who doesn’t know who Anne Frank is (“it’s just like that book you read about the little girl hiding in the attic,” the Nazi says) and one very large penis. That’s just to name a few!

What the film could have used is a swifter hand in the editing room. At nearly two hours, The Trip goes on for far too long. The film is structured in a way so that every time a new bit of information is disclosed, we go back in time a few days to see how those plot developments came to be. This is all well and good the first couple of times, but The Trip dips into that well one too many times, giving the narrative an unnecessarily episodic quality. These sequences could have been shortened, but as it stands the film feels self-indulgent at times. It’s also a film that revels in poor taste (see the aforementioned poop reference), but a portion in the second act that delves into threats of sexual assault and anal rape feels tonally out of place. It’s not played for laughs, but it almost feels too dark for this dark comedy.

Hennie and Rapace are simply delightful in their roles as the bickering protagonists, with each character delivering a hefty amount of passive-aggressive barbs to each other over the smallest things in order to twist the metaphorical knife where it hurts the most. These acidic barbs become even more hilarious once they’re juxtaposed with the ridiculousness of their increasingly outlandish situation. While the exchanges between Lars and Lisa are funny, the film never loses sight of their humanity, making for some unexpectedly touching moments between the couple amidst all the chaos. It’s also refreshing to see Rapace, after excelling in multiple serious roles, get to let loose and have some fun.

The Trip is a wild, zany ride that Wirkola and his cast are 100% committed to. It’s unfortunate that Netflix doesn’t seem to be promoting The Trip at all (it hits the streaming platform on October 15th), as it has the makings of being an ultimate crowd-pleaser.  It wouldn’t be surprising if we get an English-language remake at some point in the near future, but until then this version is readily available for your demented pleasure. At the risk of being cliché: you’ll want to take this trip.

Netflix will release The Trip on October 15th.

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Maria (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason) live a peaceful, uncomplicated life running their sheep farm in the Icelandic countryside. They spend their days running through the chores without much conversation, but it occasionally seems like Maria wants to say something. Just what that unspoken chasm between the couple might be comes in the form of a strange hybrid lamb birthed by one of their sheep. With a passing glance, Maria and Ingvar decide to take the lamb child, named Ada, into their home to raise it as their own.

Jóhannsson, who co-wrote the script with Sjón, relays the strange saga of Ada over three chapters. The couple faces unique problems with raising a lamb hybrid, like judgmental siblings or a sheep mother who longs for the baby taken from her. Mostly, though, it’s content to quietly ruminate on how Ada’s presence affects the central couple. 

What confuses is the strange tone. There’s an underlying sadness fueling Lamb, but Jóhannsson consistently manages to inject dread, too. The happier Maria and Ingvar seem to become, the certainty that the other shoe will drop is a constant threat, but without enough substantial clues to surmise what will cause the house of cards to fall.

Rapace’s character bears many secrets, and Lamb wants you to parse those out through nonverbal cues. There’s an entire backstory to the human characters only hinted at or dangled, but these Icelanders don’t communicate well, so much of it is left to the viewer to connect the dots. It helps that Ada, a lamb head and limb composited with a young child actor, is adorable. The nonverbal coos and body movements make it easy to see why Rapace’s Maria would immediately take to the precious baby.

The rustic simplicity of Jóhannsson’s debut only adds to the strangeness of it all. It’s straightforward yet constantly dangles the potential for a massive genre narrative shift that never truly arrives. Ada’s presence never ceases to remain obscure and mysterious; she’s simply a sweet, endearing gift. Lamb dabbles in horror briefly but stays content to spend time in a quaint little folk tale open to interpretation.

Questions still linger after the credits roll, but Jóhannsson’s approach seems to suggest that, like Maria, perhaps you should be content with what you get. While Lamb may not fully satisfy on a narrative level, it does succeed as an experience. Rapace is the precise actor to lead an oddball movie like this, and the emotional beats resonate. Even if it can be challenging to grasp the peculiarities fully, Ada tugs at your heartstrings, and Lamb sweeps you up in its melancholic mood.

Lamb releases in theaters on October 8, 2021.

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Today comes the official trailer that’s not only weird as fuck, but also doomy and gloomy, looking like a perfect complement to A24’s The Witch. In fact, it appears as if director Valdimar Jóhannsson was directly inspired by the film.

Lamb is a Christmas-set Biblical horror story of a childless couple, María (Prometheus star Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason), who are sheep farmers in Iceland. On Christmas Eve they find a newborn who is half human, half sheep.

The footage surprisingly reveals some shots of the hybrid child, who looks absolutely adorbs. Yet, the trailer foreshadows something sinister for the couple who decide to keep the lamb-child and raise it as their own.

If you’re licking your lamb chops in anticipation, Bloody Disgusting learned today that Lamb will open in theaters on October 8th!

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Looking like another Biblical drama in the vein of The Witch, A24 shares the first piece of art that shows Prometheus star Noomi Rapace holding the film’s title character – a lamb that’s allegedly half human, half sheep. What does the animal’s body look like in that bad?!

The best part of the poster is the excellent tagline, which promises that mother nature is about to get turned on its head.

In addition, A24 promises a brand new trailer tomorrow that will presumably come with the film’s release date. A brooding international trailer was released ahead of Cannes.

“Lamb is the story of a childless couple, María (Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason), who are sheep farmers in Iceland.

“On Christmas Eve they find a newborn who is half human, half sheep.

“Longing for a child of their own they decide to keep the lamb-child and raise it as their own regardless of the consequences. This unexpected prospect of a new family brings them much joy, before ultimately destroys them.”

“A script like this is rare and I directly felt that I had to do it,” said Rapace when the film was originally announced in Variety. “I’ve never done anything like this before and I can’t wait to start filming and go back to my roots in Iceland.”

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The trailer made its way online last week with news that A24 had acquired the Biblical drama that tells the story of a childless couple in Iceland, María (Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason), who find a newborn who is half human, half sheep on Christmas Eve.

Lamb held its World Premiere at the ongoing Cannes festival where it was allegedly met with a standing ovation.

First reactions have begun trickling out of the massive event with a major review hitting Indiewire earlier this morning from writer Eric Kohn.

Kohn calls the premise “batshit crazy,” further adding: “Lamb takes a low-key minimalist approach to its premise that invites a certain shock-and-awe reaction before doubling back to give it purpose.”

He continues: “Lamb rewards viewers who prefer to play the waiting game.”

For the Bloody Disgusting readers who love A24’s output, Kohn notes that “Jóhannsson has been schooled in the eloquent atmospheric horror of The Witch and Hereditary to such a precise degree that Lamb may as well exist as a spin-off.”

You can read his entire positive review here.

Rafael Motamayor, who oft writes for Bloody Disgusting, tweets that Lamb is “simultaneously weird and not weird enough,” while noting Rapace should be a strong contender for Palm Dog.

The Playlist‘s Gregory Ellwood tweets that Lamb is ultimately a disappointment, also celebrating Rapace’s performance.

“Absolutely adored this film,” Josie Marie writes on Twitter, adding: “It’s unpredictable while feeling familiar all at once. Great performances with an excellent execution of pacing and suspense.”

Writer Jason Gorber also shares his thoughts: “Another dark family fable from Iceland, with gorgeous setting and quiet but surreal narrative that has surprises well worth keeping hidden. Exactly the kind of cold yet inviting tale you wish to discover on your own as it unfolds, be patient and be awarded.”

From another tweet (@paulinemallet_): “The opening scene is one of the most beautiful I have seen. Noomi Rapace is masterful.”

Watch for more reviews and hopefully some release news in the coming months. For now, here’s the trailer.

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Now, huge news ahead of Cannes as Variety is reporting that A24 has acquired the rights to the chiller, which looks like another Biblical drama in the vein of The Witch.

“Lamb is the story of a childless couple, María (Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason), who are sheep farmers in Iceland.

“On Christmas Eve they find a newborn who is half human, half sheep.

“Longing for a child of their own they decide to keep the lamb-child and raise it as their own regardless of the consequences. This unexpected prospect of a new family brings them much joy, before ultimately destroys them.”

“A script like this is rare and I directly felt that I had to do it,” said Rapace when the film was originally announced in Variety. “I’ve never done anything like this before and I can’t wait to start filming and go back to my roots in Iceland.”

A trailer has been shared ahead of the Cannes premiere and it looks haunting, giving a very tiny taste of the title character presumably being buried by the couple.

Are you excited about this Christmas-set A24 pickup?

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The film features a script written by Sjón, who wrote The Northman with Robert Eggers.

Abbasi said in a statement, “Shakespeare stole the Hamlet story from us. Now it’s our turn to claim it back and make a version so insane and so bloody that make him turn in his grave.”

“Hamlet is a dream project in its purest and most explosive way,” Rapace said. “I’ve been hoping, dreaming, wishing for this as long as I’ve been an actress. I base this as much on the material as on the creative alliance that surrounds it. Ali, Sjón and [Meta Film] are for me creatives on the highest level. They’re truly brave and groundbreaking in their different areas and always on top of their game. To take on a Danish story with a Scandinavian touch and bring it out into the world with this group of people is a dream.”

Filming is set to begin in Fall 2021.

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While it doesn’t exactly sound like a horror movie, Black Crab is a thriller with post apocalyptic and “endless winter” elements/setting, so it sounds at least up our alley.

“Set in a post-apocalyptic world during an endless winter, the film follows six soldiers who are sent on a dangerous mission across the frozen sea to transport a package that could finally end the war.”

The Swedish film, in the words of producer Mattias Montero, is said to “show what happens to humanity when chaos arrives,” from a Scandinavian perspective.

Adam Berg is directing the adaptation of Jerker Virdborg‘s novel.

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“The film will follow a dysfunctional husband (The Cloverfield Paradox‘s Aksel Hennie) and wife (Prometheus‘ Noomi Rapace) who head to a remote lakeside cabin under the guise of reconnecting, but each has secret designs to kill the other.

“Before they can carry out their respective plans, unexpected visitors arrive and the couple is faced with a greater danger than anything they could have plotted.”

Written by Wirkola, Nick Ball and John Niven, the film is produced by Kjetil Omberg and Jørgen Storm Rosenberg for 74 Entertainment. XYZ will launch world sales on during TIFF.  XYZ Films is financing co-reps U.S. with CAA. Nordisk Film Distribution will release in Scandinavia.

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“Lamb is the story of a childless couple, María (Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason), who are sheep farmers in Iceland.

“On Christmas Eve they find a newborn who is half human, half sheep.

“Longing for a child of their own they decide to keep the lamb-child and raise it as their own regardless of the consequences. This unexpected prospect of a new family brings them much joy, before ultimately destroys them.”

“A script like this is rare and I directly felt that I had to do it,” said Rapace when the film was originally announced in Variety. “I’ve never done anything like this before and I can’t wait to start filming and go back to my roots in Iceland.”

Watch for U.S. distro news as it arrives.

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“The pic centers on a woman who wakes up in a cryogenic medical pod, alone, with no memory, and no way out. All she knows is that she has 90 minutes of oxygen left and must figure out how to save herself, while discovering who she really is, who put her there, and most importantly – why?”

Deadline adds that the film was written by Christie LeBlanc. Aja previously directed High Tension, Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors, Piranha, Horns and also produced last year’s Crawl.

“One of the most compelling scripts I’ve read in years – a pure survival experience with a great mystery at its core,” said Aja. “Even without the oxygen running out, the suspense on the page left me breathless.”

Echo Lake Entertainment, 42 and Wild Bunch International are also producing.  The contained Blacklist thriller that has Wild Bunch International aboard for sales. Vincent Maraval’s Paris-based outfit will begin discussing the genre project with buyers next week at the EFM in Berlin.

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Charlie Plummer (pictured below in The Clovehitch Killer) leads the cast as a brother on a mission to rescue his sister, played by It‘s Sophia Lillis, from Rapace’s gang. “Game of Thrones” fav Peter Dinklage also stars.

“The story follows an innocent young man named Jack (Plummer) who goes on an epic quest to rescue his sister (Lillis) after she is kidnapped by violent killer “Cut Throat Bill” (Rapace) and her gang.

“Jack enlists the help of a crafty bounty hunter named Reginald Jones (Dinklage), a grave-digging alcoholic son of an ex-slave, and a street-smart prostitute. The three track the girl into the deadly no-man’s land known as The Big Thicket — a place where blood and chaos reign.”

Currently in pre-production, the film is based on the novel by author Joe R. Lansdale, with a script by Chris Kelley, and will be directed by Elliott Lester (Nightingale).

The Exchange will be shopping the movie at the upcoming EFM. CAA Media finance and ICM Partners are co-repping domestic.

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Forty years ago, Alien shook audiences with the iconic scene that saw the blue-collar crew of the Nostromo settled in for a comfortable meal together after one of their own recovered from a daunting brush with a facehugging alien lifeform, only to have their lives irrevocably changed by the arrival of a newborn. The act of childbirth is a messy, excruciating process, and Alien took it to a whole new harrowing level by gender-swapping the birth and having the alien baby enter the world by bursting forth from its host’s chest cavity. That the host, Kane (John Hurt), had this twisted pregnancy forced upon him when he got a little too curious about a strange egg while exploring a derelict space ship on moon LV-426, adds even more layers of fear regarding childbirth.

Then there’s the Nostromo’s mainframe, MU-TH-UR 6000, known simply as “Mother.” It’s a fitting name as the computer operated many of the ship’s background systems, autopiloted the ship while the crew was in hypersleep, and woke the crew from hypersleep. “Mother” behaved like a mother, in a certain sense. From a literary standpoint, “Mother” provided the film’s protagonist with necessary information that nudged them forward in their journey to becoming a hero – Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) learned of the company’s true motives through “Mother.”

Whereas Alien presented a metaphorical approach to the horrors of childbirth, Aliens took on motherhood in a much more traditional way. Ripley and Jonesy the cat were the only survivors of the ill-fated Nostromo, and they were eventually rescued by her employer, Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Unfortunately, she’d been in stasis for 57 years prior to rescue. It’s in her debriefing, in a deleted scene, that we learn Ripley had a daughter that grew to old age and died in the 57 years she’d been asleep. It wasn’t enough to lose her crew, her job, and nearly her life- all in a traumatic event that left her with PTSD. She lost her role as a mother, as well. That emotional loss makes it easier to understand the maternal instincts that take over the moment she sees Newt, the sole survivor of Hadley’s Hope – a colony of terraformers on LV-426.

Like Ripley, Newt lost everything she knew. Her parents, her brother, and the life she once had. Something that Ripley relates to well and drives her to fight even harder to protect the girl. It’s forming a new family from two broken ones, culminating in that final emotional moment after Ripley saves Newt from one monstrous foe, and Newt calls her “Mommy” while clinging tight. More than acceptance, it’s a heartfelt example that mothers are more than just blood relations.

While Ripley’s entire arc in Aliens is defined by her relationship with a surrogate daughter, it’s matched by the epic reveal of the Queen alien. Aliens gives a face to the creature responsible for all of those eggs, and it’s far worse than any of the Xenomorphs encountered before. And the Queen Mother matches every bit of Ripley’s ferocious protectiveness of her children, building up to one satisfying final act as she seeks personal revenge against Ripley for destroying her eggs and the ovipositor in which she uses to lay them. Aliens pits mother against mother, and depending on your perspective, neither are wrong as they’re both driven by maternal instinct and preservation.

Alien 3 drew ire straightaway by immediately killing off Newt and Corporal Dwayne Hicks (Michael Biehn) when a fire breaks out in the Sulaco, and the escape pod crash lands on a remote prison planet inhabited only by men. The sole survivor, Ripley, once again faces the loss of a child. Her intrinsic journey in this film is one based in a crisis of faith. She’s failed at motherhood twice and finds herself essentially pregnant again – this time with a Xenomorph embryo. A Queen. She’s poised to become the mother of the mother of the apocalypse. Ripley’s journey ends with her throwing herself into a burning furnace as the newborn Queen bursts forth from her chest. Ripley clutches the infant close as they both perish; she’s found a peace in knowing her fight against the Xenomorphs ends here.

“My mommy always told me there were no monsters. No real ones. But there are.”

Ripley’s voiceover narration begins Alien: Resurrection, as the camera pans over her naked body in a giant tube in a lab, surrounding by scientists. 200 years after the events of Alien 3, they’ve finally found a way to get the Xenomorph specimen by cloning Ripley from blood samples prior to her death while she was still impregnated with the Queen embryo. Ripley, as we knew her for the past three films, is long gone, instead, this new version, Clone 8, is an alien hybrid. A hybrid that feels much more maternal for the Xenomorphs on board.

When Call (Winona Ryder) first meets Ripley, wanting to kill her and prevent the Queen from being born, she realizes in horror that the scientists already removed it. “You mean my baby?” Ripley corrects Call, when she refers to the newborn as an “it” with revulsion. Ripley isn’t human anymore, and thus feels kinship with her offspring. It’s not just Ripley’s DNA that was altered, but the Queen alien as well. Ripley gifted her monstrous new daughter with a human reproductive system, which means the painless laying of eggs has been replaced by the agonizing pain of live birth.

Once the Queen gives birth, the Queen shows clear affection for her newborn- an atrocious hybrid of Ripley and Xenomorph. But the baby rejects its mother, and chooses Ripley instead- committing matricide as it looks to Ripley for comfort. When the baby threatens the safety of both the remaining survivors and Earth, Ripley tearfully mourns as she ends its life in brutal fashion. Whether you love or hate Alien: Resurrection, its entirety is focused on the evolution and emotional pull of motherhood.

For a series so intertwined with maternity, it makes sense that the next chapter turns its broader focus to the creation of life. The central theme in Prometheus may have drawn from the Greek myth in which it shares its name, and humanity’s relationship with their creators, but it made some interesting observations about birth in the process. Namely in character Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), an archaeologist with a strong faith. Early on, it’s made clear that Shaw is unable to bear children. Considering the themes of creation, Shaw asks another character, “I can’t create life, what does that say about me?” It’s a question that highlights female insecurities about fertility, and perceived self-worth in reflection of that. It’s a heady question in a heady film about faith and creation, and once again tests the boundaries of what motherhood can be.

More obviously, the question sets up the memorable scene in which Shaw gives herself a C-Section to remove the alien fetus rapidly growing in her womb. I say C-section because the surgical removal of the fetus mirrors a cesarean section, and the tentacled creature that is removed from her womb isn’t terminated. The creature is left behind to continue growing, and winds up inadvertently saving Shaw from the Engineer trying to kill her in the final act of the film.

Alien: Covenant continues the themes of creation employed in Prometheus, and ties back into the original film in a more familiar way. The eggs, the bursting birth sequences, and the maternal way in which android David (Michael Fassbender) looks after his creations brings the entire series full circle. Just like the circle of life.

Mothers are the creators of life. That’s something this series explores in every possible way; from the unseen archaic mother that laid the eggs prior to the Nostromo’s arrival to the philosophical musings of David as he tampered with alien material to create new life in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. Birth is synonymous with body horror here, as these newborns rip their way out of their mothers. It’s pure carnage. But the series also demonstrates that motherhood is more than simply giving birth; even adoptive (and infertile) mothers are worthy. It’s a mother that delivered one of horror’s most iconic movie monsters, and it’s a mother that’s the fiercest final girl of all time. All mothers are queens. When it comes to showing every aspect of what motherhood means, the Alien series captures it the best.

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Lamb is the story of a childless couple, María (Rapace) and Ingvar, who are sheep farmers in Iceland. On Christmas Eve they find a newborn who is half human, half sheep. Longing for a child of their own they decide to keep the lamb-child and raise it as their own regardless of the consequences.

“A script like this is rare and I directly felt that I had to do it,” said Rapace. “I’ve never done anything like this before and I can’t wait to start filming and go back to my roots in Iceland.”

Lamb, which is set for a mid-2019 shoot and is expected to be completed in 2020, is produced by Hrönn Kristinsdóttir and Sara Nassim at Go to Sheep. The co-producers are Piodor Gustafsson and Erik Rydell at Black Spark, and Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska at Madants/NEM Corp.

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In the film, “Set in an alternate present-day where humans, orcs, elves, and fairies have been coexisting since the beginning of time, this action-thriller directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad, End of Watch, writer of Training Day) follows two cops from very different backgrounds. Ward, a human (Will Smith), and Jakoby, an orc (Joel Edgerton), embark on a routine night patrol that will alter the future of their world as they know it. Battling both their own personal differences as well as an onslaught of enemies, they must work together to protect a young female elf and a thought-to-be-forgotten relic, which in the wrong hands could destroy everything.”

The Netflix original film, arriving on December 22, also stars Lucy Fry, Edgar Ramirez, Ike Barinholtz, Enrique Murciano, Jay Hernandez, Andrea Navedo, Veronica Ngo, Alex Meraz, Margaret Cho, Brad William Henke, Dawn Olivieri, and Kenneth Choi.

The film is written by Max Landis (Chronicle, Victor Frankenstein). David Ayer, Eric Newman, and Bryan Unkeless serve as producers.

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In this latest sneak peek, Smith and Edgerton reveal the unique partnership between their characters Officer Ward and Officer Jakoby. Ayer showcases how these two mismatched partners anchor the story, explaining that “the most important thing about this film is the relationship between Will and Joel.”

“Set in an alternate present-day where humans, orcs, elves, and fairies have been coexisting since the beginning of time, this action-thriller directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad, End of Watch, writer of Training Day) follows two cops from very different backgrounds. Ward, a human (Will Smith), and Jakoby, an orc (Joel Edgerton), embark on a routine night patrol that will alter the future of their world as they know it. Battling both their own personal differences as well as an onslaught of enemies, they must work together to protect a young female elf and a thought-to-be-forgotten relic, which in the wrong hands could destroy everything.”

The Netflix original film, arriving on December 22, also stars Lucy Fry, Edgar Ramirez, Ike Barinholtz, Enrique Murciano, Jay Hernandez, Andrea Navedo, Veronica Ngo, Alex Meraz, Margaret Cho, Brad William Henke, Dawn Olivieri, and Kenneth Choi.

The film is written by Max Landis (Chronicle). David Ayer, Eric Newman, and Bryan Unkeless serve as producers.

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Frantic that their little secret has been uncovered, the rest of the girls (all played by Noomi Rapace) begin their search for the truth. All they want to do is bring home their sister safely, but what they find in their quest will lead to so much more than any of them could have ever anticipated. If they want to keep their family together, they’ll have to combine all of their different skills, take on Child Allocation Bureau, and go up against the terrifying Cayman herself, all so they can retrieve their lost sibling and learn the real story about What Happened To Monday.

“It has a real issue at the bottom, but at the same time, was fun and had a big entertainment quality to it, and in my head when I read it, I saw it as kind of my chance to do something close to films that I loved when I was growing up, especially from Paul Verhoeven,” director Wirkola says about balancing entertainment with terror in a project that’s so eerily timely in its illustration of overpopulation. “It is a scary issue of course, and a real one if one is to believe, and in less than twenty years we could have a real problem on our hands if we don’t do anything soon. But in my head, that notion could be combined with something exciting, no matter how sick that sounds.”

There’s been much debate surrounding streaming services lately, especially with Okja, a Netflix movie, heading to Cannes and bearing the brunt of much criticism from die-hard movie fans. While Wirkola admits that he would love for his movie to play theatrically in America on as many screens as possible, he credits Netflix for giving his movie an audience which he might not have otherwise received.

“Netflix is known as the big disruptors in regards to that but I think in the long run, yes, you look at them, you look at Amazon, you look at all these new players coming into it and it’s just going to be more product and more good stuff, and this film is a film that we struggled to get made in the studio system in the U.S. so the fact that Netflix came on board and are believing in it as much as they do, and pushing it out there, it’s a relief for us. But I think it’s a good thing, yes, and sure, when I made it, did I dream about having it have the biggest theatrical release in the whole world? Yeah, sure, but now we’re getting that in Europe, theatrical release in Europe and we’re getting Netflix in the U.S. and I know the film will be seen by a lot of people because of it, and that is the main reason to make films, to get it out there for as many people as possible and Netflix, they have that and they believe in that and they help young filmmakers create great product.”

Don’t miss What Happened to Monday on Netflix now, and keep an eye out for all of Wirkola’s projects on the horizon, which seems utterly exciting, to say the least.

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Dead Snow and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters‘ Tommy Wirkola directed the feature, which will put Rapace’s acting prowess on display, as she gets to play seven different roles. Netflix will be releasing the film exclusively on their streaming service this Friday, August 18th.

“Set in a world where families are allowed only one child due to overpopulation, a resourceful set of seven identical sisters must avoid governmental execution and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.”

Check out this first clip in which several Noomis get into a bedroom brawl, kicking the living shit out of some home invaders.

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Dead Snow and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters‘ Tommy Wirkola directed the feature, which will put Rapace’s acting prowess on display, as she gets to play seven different roles. Netflix will be releasing the film exclusively on their streaming service this Friday, August 18th.

“Set in a world where families are allowed only one child due to overpopulation, a resourceful set of seven identical sisters must avoid governmental execution and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.”

Willem Dafoe (John Wick, Antichrist, Death Note) and Glenn Close also star in the film, with Marwan Kenzari (Accused, Reckless), Christian Rubeck (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) and Pal Sverre Hagen (Kon-Tiki). Close plays the fierce head of the Child Allocation Bureau, Nicolette Cayman.

It was produced by Vendome Pictures and Raffaella Productions and fully financed by SND, which will handle French distribution rights as well as international sales.

The script was written by Kerry Williamson (Alex Cross) and Max Botkin (Robosapien: Rebooted).

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Ayer may have dropped the ball with Suicide Squad, but Bright looks to right that wrong. Ayer is an extremely talented filmmaker, who also directed End of Watch, Sabotage and Fury. His action choreography is some of the best I’ve ever seen, and this even includes the disappointing Suicide Squad. The trailer looks like a new kind of superhero movie, integrating the best parts of End of Watch and Suicide Squad with strong social commentary and a bit of that buddy comedy wit from something like Rush Hour.Look for this on December 22, 2017.

“Set in an alternate present-day where humans, orcs, elves, and fairies have been coexisting since the beginning of time, this action-thriller directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad, End of Watch, writer of Training Day) follows two cops from very different backgrounds. Ward, a human (Will Smith), and Jakoby, an orc (Joel Edgerton), embark on a routine night patrol that will alter the future of their world as they know it. Battling both their own personal differences as well as an onslaught of enemies, they must work together to protect a young female elf and a thought-to-be-forgotten relic, which in the wrong hands could destroy everything.”

The Netflix original film stars Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, Noomi Rapace, Lucy Fry, Edgar Ramirez, Ike Barinholtz, Enrique Murciano, Jay Hernandez, Andrea Navedo, Veronica Ngo, Alex Meraz, Margaret Cho, Brad William Henke, Dawn Olivieri, and Kenneth Choi. The film is directed by David Ayer and written by Max Landis (Chronicle). David Ayer, Eric Newman, and Bryan Unkeless serve as producers.

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Dead Snow and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters‘s Tommy Wirkola directed the feature, which will put Rapace’s acting prowess on display, as she gets to play seven different roles. The trailer really hones in on this, focusing a lot on the seven siblings. We learned this morning that Netflix will be releasing the film exclusively on their streaming service this coming August.

“Set in a world where families are allowed only one child due to overpopulation, a resourceful set of seven identical sisters must avoid governmental execution and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.”

Willem Dafoe (John Wick, Antichrist) and Glenn Close also star in the film, with Marwan Kenzari (Accused, Reckless), Christian Rubeck (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) and Pal Sverre Hagen (Kon-Tiki). Close plays the fierce head of the Child Allocation Bureau, Nicolette Cayman.

It was produced by Vendome Pictures and Raffaella Productions and fully financed by SND, which will handle French distribution rights as well as international sales.

The script was written by Kerry Williamson (Alex Cross) and Max Botkin (Robosapien: Rebooted). Thanks to Fabien M. for the tip.

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The photo highlights Edgerton, who is caked in orc-ness to the point of being unrecognizable.

“It’s totally maddening,” director David Ayer tells Empire. “[Joel] wanted the challenge. I think it has driven him mad. But it helps for character and performance, so it’s fine.”

Today, the South Central Los Angeles Police Force announced that Nicolas Jakoby, the first ever Orc Police Officer, joined the department solidifying their commitment to diversity and their acceptance of all communities and races.  Jakoby will be partnering with the esteemed Human Officer Scott Ward and providing much-needed insight into the Orc community in the Los Angeles area.

“Orcs have been a part of our society for over a millennia and we welcome all who are ready and willing to serve on the force. Jakoby will be an excellent partner to Ward,”  said Captain Perez.

While Netflix isn’t releasing Bright until December, they’ve already provided us with a teaser than looks bonkers. Ayer may have dropped the ball with Suicide Squad, but Bright looks to right that wrong. Ayer is an extremely talented filmmaker, who also directed Sabotage and Fury. His action choreography is some of the best I’ve ever seen, and this even includes the disappointing Suicide Squad.

Set in an alternate present-day where humans, orcs, elves and fairies have been coexisting since the beginning of time, this action-thriller directed by David Ayer (Suicide Squad, End of Watch, writer of Training Day) follows two cops from very different backgrounds. Ward, a human (Will Smith), and Jakoby, an orc (Joel Edgerton), embark on a routine night patrol that will alter the future of their world as they know it. Battling both their own personal differences as well as an onslaught of enemies, they must work together to protect a young female elf and a thought-to-be-forgotten relic, which in the wrong hands could destroy everything.

The Netflix original film stars Will Smith, Joel Edgerton, Noomi Rapace, Lucy Fry, Edgar Ramirez, Ike Barinholtz, Enrique Murciano, Jay Hernandez, Andrea Navedo, Veronica Ngo, Alex Meraz, Margaret Cho, Brad William Henke, Dawn Olivieri, and Kenneth Choi. The film is directed by David Ayer and written by Max Landis (Chronicle). David Ayer, Eric Newman, and Bryan Unkeless serve as producers.

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“Set in a world where families are allowed only one child due to overpopulation, a resourceful set of seven identical sisters must avoid governmental execution and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.”

Willem Dafoe (John Wick, Antichrist) and Glenn Close also star in the film, with Marwan Kenzari (Accused, Reckless), Christian Rubeck (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) and Pal Sverre Hagen (Kon-Tiki). Close plays the fierce head of the Child Allocation Bureau, Nicolette Cayman.

It was produced by Vendome Pictures and Raffaella Productions and fully financed by SND, which will handle French distribution rights as well as international sales.

The script was written by Kerry Williamson (Alex Cross) and Max Botkin (Robosapien: Rebooted).

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“Set in a world where families are allowed only one child due to overpopulation, a resourceful set of seven identical sisters must avoid governmental execution and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.”

Willem Dafoe (John Wick, Antichrist) and Glenn Close also star in the film, with Marwan Kenzari (Accused, Reckless), Christian Rubeck (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) and Pal Sverre Hagen (Kon-Tiki). Close plays the fierce head of the Child Allocation Bureau, Nicolette Cayman.

It was produced by Vendome Pictures and Raffaella Productions and fully financed by SND, which will handle French distribution rights as well as international sales.

The script was written by Kerry Williamson (Alex Cross) and Max Botkin (Robosapien: Rebooted).

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“Set in a world where families are allowed only one child due to overpopulation, a resourceful set of seven identical sisters must avoid governmental execution and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.”

Willem Dafoe (John Wick, Antichrist) and Glenn Close also star in the film, with Marwan Kenzari (Accused, Reckless), Christian Rubeck (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) and Pal Sverre Hagen (Kon-Tiki). Close plays the fierce head of the Child Allocation Bureau, Nicolette Cayman.

It was produced by Vendome Pictures and Raffaella Productions and fully financed by SND, which will handle French distribution rights as well as international sales.

The script was written by Kerry Williamson (Alex Cross) and Max Botkin (Robosapien: Rebooted).

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One of the big reveals in Alien: Covenant was that David killed Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) at some point during the 10-year span between the events of Prometheus and the arrival of the Covenant crew. Oddly, however, we didn’t actually find out exactly WHAT David did to her. Rather, it was strongly suggested that he performed all sorts of crazy mad scientist experiments on her, presumably allowing him to perfect the formula for creating the egg that of course eventually gave rise to the very first Xenomorph.

Does that make Shaw the original Queen? That’s the theory many fans have, but we may have to wait until the next film to find out for sure. In the meantime, artist Matt Hatton’s Alien: Covenant concept art just hit the net via Alien-Covenant.com, giving us a bit more insight into what went on in Shaw’s final days.

Hatton’s drawings are actually David’s drawings, some which were ever-so-briefly glimpsed in the movie. They show either what David did to Shaw or at least planned on doing to her, and it’s all pretty gnarly. What can we deduce from the drawings? Well, Shaw was definitely the bridge between the Engineers’ deadly black goo and the creation of the superior organism known as the Xenomorph.

Check out David’s gruesome art below.

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Dead Snow and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters‘s Tommy Wirkola directed the feature, which will put Rapace’s acting prowess on display, as she gets to play seven different roles. The trailer really hones in on this, focusing a lot on the seven siblings. One this that worries me, however, is that the trailer makes me continually think of Eddie Murphy’s dinner table scene in Nutty Professor. Hercules! Hercules!

“Set in a world where families are allowed only one child due to overpopulation, a resourceful set of seven identical sisters must avoid governmental execution and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.”

Willem Dafoe (John Wick, Antichrist) and Glenn Close also star in the film, with Marwan Kenzari (Accused, Reckless), Christian Rubeck (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters) and Pal Sverre Hagen (Kon-Tiki). Close plays the fierce head of the Child Allocation Bureau, Nicolette Cayman.

It was produced by Vendome Pictures and Raffaella Productions and fully financed by SND, which will handle French distribution rights as well as international sales.

The script was written by Kerry Williamson (Alex Cross) and Max Botkin (Robosapien: Rebooted). Thanks to Fabien M. for the tip.

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