Jessie Buckley gets a fright in first trailer for Alex Garland’s new horror movie

Hereditary meets The Green Knight in the cryptic first teaser for Men, the next horror movie from acclaimed writer-director Alex Garland.

Not much is known about the premise of the A24-produced project, though newly anointed Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter) leads its cast as a widow on vacation in the English countryside who encounters, well, something hiding in the darkness. 

It’s coming to theaters on May 20, 2022 and, judging by the director’s previous work – which includes Ex Machina and Devs – film fans are in for a head-spinning albeit beautifully shot journey into the human psyche. 

Check out the trailer below:

In the brief teaser footage, Buckley’s character is visited – nay pursued – by an individual we presume could be her deceased husband. Given that both Rory Kinnear (No Time to Die) and Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You) join the Wild Rose star in the movie’s cast, though, the threat of Men could be two-fold (if you’ll pardon the pun).

Garland is known for his penchant for heady storytelling, so it’s unlikely that anything in his latest movie is as obvious it first seems. The director rose to prominence as the author of The Beach in 1996 (which was later adapted into a less-impressive film starring Leonardo DiCaprio in 2000), before earning further acclaim with twisty sci-fi thrillers Ex Machina and Annihilation. 

His previous project, the FX-produced series Devs, was a cerebral deep dive into humanity’s sketchy relationship with science and technology. Although it didn’t take off commercially on either side of the pond, further praise was bestowed upon the filmmaker for adding yet another ambitious entry to his body of work. 

Incidentally, all three of those aforementioned screen projects saw Garland utilise dense, humid forests as a means of creating tension for his typically isolated protagonists, and it looks like Men will continue the trend.

Analysis: led down the Garland path

Oscar nominee Kirsten Dunst stars in Netflix’s The Power of the Dog. (Image credit: Netflix)

Jessie Buckley isn’t the only Oscar contender working with Garland in 2022.

The Power of the Dog star Kirsten Dunst will feature in another of the director’s upcoming projects, Civil War, which is also being backed by A24. Again, next to nothing is known about the film, not least a potential release date, but its script was written by Garland himself. 

Men’s confirmed May 2022 release date, on the other hand, means it’ll arrive alongside the likes of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Top Gun: Maverick. As such, it’s unlikely to take up too much theatrical real estate but, judging by what we’ve seen of Garland’s upcoming movie so far, a limited budget should equate to limited commercial pressure.

For a complete list of what else to expect in 2022, check out our list of the biggest new movies heading to theaters in the coming year.

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