‘Angelica’ Trailer: Jena Malone Gets Haunted In New Film From ‘Teeth’ Director
TeethdirectorMitchell Lichtensteinis back with a very different kind of horror story. Based on the novel byArthur Phillips,AngelicastarsJena Maloneas a wife and mother haunted by spirits in Victorian England.
TheAngelicatrailer is full of the shadows, bumps, and ominous warnings typical of the genre, but there’s a psychosexual bent to it that should keep things interesting.Ed StoppardandJanet McTeeralso star. Watch theAngelicatrailer after the jump.
THRdebuted theAngelicatrailer. Between this and Guillermo del Toro’sCrimson Peak, Victorian Gothic psychosexual horror seems to be having a moment this year.
It’s a bit difficult to suss out the plot details from that trailer, but the book centers on Constance’s marriage to medical researcher Joseph. As their young daughter Angelica is moved out of their bedroom, the couple is ordered to remain abstinent for the Constance’s health. But Constance starts noticing strange things around the house, threatening her and her daughter. She turns to a spiritualist for help, which only complicates things further.
Lichtenstein’sTeethwas a deliciously off-kilter take on a young woman’s sexual coming of age, and we can hope he’ll bring the same insight to Victorian sexual repression inAngelica.Though Phillips' book has drawn comparisons to classics like Henry James’Turn of the Screwand Shirley Jackson’sThe Haunting of Hill House, it’s actually a modern publication — it just came out in 2008.
Add in a starring turn by the reliably excellent Malone, andAngelicalooks like a horror film well worth seeking out. Malone is currently best known for playing steely-edged Johanna in theHunger Gamesmovies, but scared, naive Constance feels like Johanna’s polar opposite. Though it remains to be seen what becomes of Constance after the spirits get ahold of her.
Angelicamakes its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival next month.
