The Red-Band Trailer for David Cronenberg's New Body-Horror Epic Is as Squicky as You'd Expect

Crimes of the Future stars Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, and Kristen Stewart, and arrives June 3.

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A woman in a red evening gown, a man shrouded in a black cloak, and a woman in a silver shirt and pants sit together.
Image: Neon

Your Friday just got a whole lot more gruesome, for the red-band trailer for David Cronenberg’s much-anticipated return to full-on body horror has arrived. Behold, a fresh glimpse at Crimes of the Future to make your stomach (and other internal organs) lurch with cinematic glee.

Just as freaky as what appears in this trailer is what you’ll hear in this trailer: “It’s a brand-new organ, never before seen!” “The world is a much more dangerous place now that pain has all but disappeared.” “Surgery is the new sex!” “Let us not be afraid to map the chaos inside ... let us create a map that will guide us into the heart of darkness!”

And that’s your reminder that nobody does “gaping slits in the body” like Cronenberg, who warped many a mind with Videodrome back in the day and looks to be adding a new evolution to that very particular signature here. With this new trailer we also have a more complete synopsis of Crimes of the Future, which may be the first time we have ever seen the phrase “the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances” used in the English language: “As the human species adapts to a synthetic environment, the body undergoes new transformations and mutations. With his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux), Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), celebrity performance artist, publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. Timlin (Kristen Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed… Their mission—to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.”

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Needless to say, the story sounds completely original, the imagery in the new trailer looks hideously amazing, and we can’t wait to see the full film. Crimes of the Future will premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off May 17, before hitting theaters June 3.


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