Trailer Blitz: Dangerous Animals, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Steppenwolf, Baby Invasion, The Ugly Stepsister, Fréwaka, Kryptic and More
It’s that time again—Welcome to Trailer Blitz!
Playing catch-up here—here’s a list of movie trailers from the past few days that we didn’t get to until now. As we do our best to keep our readers informed about the many films hitting both the big screen and small screen in the coming months, we’ll occasionally need to assemble a roundup of trailers we think deserve your attention. So, scroll through and enjoy!
“Dangerous Animals” Teaser: Jai Courtney Plays a Sadistic Predator at Sea in Sean Byrne’s Ocean-Set Horror Thriller — In Theaters June 6th
Australian horror filmmaker Sean Byrne broke onto the scene back in 2009 with the darkly comic horror film The Loved Ones. Centering around a twisted story between a demented teen girl and her would-be prom date, the film has appeared on many online horror lists, often cited as one of the most overlooked horror gems in recent years. It was certainly a cut above the rest to emerge from Australia’s early-aughts torture horror wave.
Byrne followed that with another cult favorite, 2015’s demon-possession horror The Devil’s Candy, which tells the story of a dark fantasy painter who slowly falls under the influence of a sinister presence lurking in his new home.
Now, Byrne returns with his third feature film—and it continues his fascination with dark souls and the horrors of physical suffering. This time, however, the Australian filmmaker appears to be exploring a new angle: delving into the unsettling question of what’s more terrifying—humanity’s dark capacity to torture, or an animal’s primal instinct to kill.
Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad, American Primeval) stars in Byrne’s latest film, Dangerous Animals. He plays a deeply disturbing psychopath who has captured his latest female victim and trapped her aboard his boat, planning to dispose of her in the middle of the ocean—leaving her to be devoured by sharks.
But things take a sharp turn when the victim’s fierce will to survive completely upends his best-laid plans, turning the situation into a brutal fight not just for her life—but against the ocean itself, and everything lurking within it.
Dangerous Animals will hit theaters on June 6th.
“Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight” Trailer: Actress Embeth Davidtz Makes Directorial Debut With Powerful Coming-of-Age Tale Set in Post-War Zimbabwe – In Select Theaters July 11th
With decades of acting credits under her belt, actress Embeth Davidtz—best known for her roles in acclaimed films like Schindler's List, Matilda, and Mansfield Park, as well as cult favorites like Army of Darkness and The Amazing Spider-Man—is stepping behind the camera for her directorial debut.
With Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, Davidtz, an American-born but South African-raised actress, explores the complex racial divides of South Africa during the social turmoil that followed the 1970s Rhodesian Bush War.
Based on the best-selling memoir by British-Zimbabwean author Alexandra Fuller, the film tells the story of 8-year-old white South African girl Bobo, who lives on her family farm in Zimbabwe as the region faces rising cultural and racial tensions between European settlers and indigenous Black Africans. As unrest builds, the threat of guerrilla conflict looms ever closer.
The film features newcomer Lexi Venter as Bobo, in a performance already being hailed as one of the best child performances in recent years. Davidtz also appears in the film, playing Bobo’s troubled and complex mother.
Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight premiered to rave reviews last year at Telluride and TIFF. Acquired by Sony Pictures Classics—the same distributor behind the Oscar-nominated I'm Still Here—the film is set to open in select theaters in New York and LA on July 11, with additional cities to follow.
“Steppenwolf” Trailer: A Corrupt Town, A Disgraced Detective, and Bullet-Riddled Mayhem in This Ultra-Violent Russian-Kazakh Thriller — Limited Blu-ray Drops May 26th from Arrow Video
Okay, there are some movies you randomly stumble on and instantly sit up, thinking, “Wait—why haven’t I heard about this?” And just like that, it shoots to the top of your must-watch list.
Steppenwolf just might be one of those movies.
Visually striking and soaked in dark ambiance, it carries shades of Mad Max but filtered through classic western archetypes—a lone warrior navigating a remote town riddled with corruption and violence.
Written and directed by Kazakh filmmaker Adilkhan Yerzhanov, this Russian-Kazakh thriller is a hyper-violent redemption tale about a disgraced detective with questionable morals. He’s hired by a desperate mother to find her missing son, a mission that spirals into a bullet-riddled war against masked mercenaries and ruthless outlaws.
Starring Berik Aitzhanov and Anna Starchenko, Steppenwolf screened at the Fantasia Film Festival last year, where it earned mostly positive reviews from critics.
The film also boasts some serious pedigree behind the camera—acclaimed Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky, known for backing Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Oscar-nominated Leviathan and Loveless, serves as a producer on Steppenwolf. This could be one of those under-the-radar gems well worth seeking out.
Arrow Video, the boutique film distributor known for their high-quality Blu-ray releases, is set to drop Steppenwolf in a limited Blu-ray edition across the US, UK, and Canada on May 26th.
And as for a theatrical release in the U.S., that’s still up in the air—but we’ll be keeping a close eye on any new developments.
“Baby Invasion” Trailer: Spring Breakers Director Harmony Korine Turns Home Invasion Into a Surreal First-Person Shooter Fever Dream – Hits VOD March 21
Provocative filmmaker Harmony Korine has built a career out of pushing the envelope and diving headfirst into subjects most others wouldn’t touch. With 1995’s Kids, Korine made his screenwriting debut, delivering a sexually charged and graphically raw portrait of urban teenage life that had New York parents nervously eyeing their own kids.
He followed that with his directorial debut Gummo in 1997 and 1999’s Julien Donkey-Boy, both of which proved he wasn’t afraid to go experimental—blurring filmmaking conventions and embracing the stripped-down Dogme 95 aesthetic. Then came 2012’s Spring Breakers, arguably his most mainstream outing to date. Even still, that film was a hyper-kinetic, neon-soaked descent into a subculture of drugs, sex, and Floridian hustlers.
(Spring Breakers just recently received a special re-release screening, with surprise appearances by Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco.)
Now, Korine has returned with his latest provocative project—and once again, he’s delivering something that’s bound to split audiences into two camps: those who will praise his bold, extreme choices… and those who will likely walk away denouncing his radicalism.
Baby Invasion, written and directed by Korine, is less a traditional film and more an ultra-realistic live-action reenactment of a first-person shooter video game, complete with first-person POV. Using AI technology to morph human faces into uncanny baby-faced disguises, the story centers around a home invasion as players navigate a dark-web-leaked game where the line between the digital and real world begins to blur.
Featuring music by future-garage dubstep artist Burial, Baby Invasion premiered last year at the Venice International Film Festival, where it drew a sharply divided response from critics—one even claiming the first-person visuals gave them motion sickness. The film follows Korine’s equally polarizing, infrared-shot experimental crime thriller Aggro Dr1ft.
Once again produced by Korine’s multimedia company EDGLRD (“edgelord”), Baby Invasion is made for the digital market and will be made available for VOD purchase starting this Friday, March 21st.
“The Ugly Stepsister” Trailer: A Cinderella-like Fairy Tale Gets a Body Horror Makeover in this Twisted Norwegian Horror Flick From Writer-Director Emilie Blichfeldt – In Theaters April 18th
If you’ve ever thought fairytales like Cinderella and Snow White are a bit problematic—'cause they tend to push the idea that a woman’s pristine beauty is her most valuable trait, while those with less-than-glamorous looks are sidelined or villainized—okay, hold that thought.
Now, what if more fairytales took a darker, more brutal turn, leaning hard into the body horror genre, something in the vein of The Substance? If that sounds like your kind of twisted bedtime story, then this next movie should shoot straight to the top of your must-watch list.
The Ugly Stepsister is a new Norwegian horror comedy that turns a classic Cinderella-like tale on its head, centering on a young woman who tries to win the hand of a prince after undergoing a gruesome, medieval-like face reconstruction process.
Starring Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, and Ane Dahl Torp, The Ugly Stepsister marks the auspicious feature debut of writer-director Emilie Blichfeldt, who joins a growing wave of rising female voices in horror, including Coralie Fargeat, Julia Ducournau, and Rose Glass.
Premiering to raves earlier this year during Sundance’s Midnight section, The Ugly Stepsister is now slated to open in U.S. theaters on April 18, with a streaming release on Shudder to follow after its theatrical run.
“Fréwaka” Trailer: A Nursing Job Turns Nightmarish in New Irish Folk Horror From ‘The Devil’s Doorway’ Director Aislinn Clarke – Streaming on Shudder April 25th
Okay, there are some jobs that can feel like a nightmare. Then there are jobs where nightmare is part of the job description.
In the new Irish folk horror thriller Fréwaka, a young nursing student (Clare Monnelly) is assigned to care for an elderly woman (Bríd Ní Neachtain) living in near reclusion in a remote Irish village. But once she arrives, it quickly becomes clear that her new patient is not only cantankerous and difficult—but also harboring dark secrets within a house steeped in something sinister.
As the nurse digs deeper, she discovers the home sits atop the ruins of an abandoned Catholic asylum, where her patient once spent years. And as the woman’s tortured past comes back to haunt her, the young nurse finds herself caught in the crossfire.
Written and directed by Irish horror filmmaker Aislinn Clarke—following her chilling 2018 found footage thriller The Devil’s Doorway—Fréwaka once again taps into the horrors of the Catholic Church, weaving Irish Gaelic with English dialogue.
The film’s title, Fréwaka, apparently translates to “roots,” seemingly a nod to the buried trauma tied to Ireland’s dark religious history.
Also starring Aleksandra Bystrzhitskaya, Fréwaka will start streaming on Shudder April 25th.
So you better think twice before accepting a job where your work sits on top of an old asylum—'cause let’s be honest, that’s never a good sign!
“Kryptic” Trailer: A Cryptid Encounter Unravels Reality in This Surreal Canadian Horror From Director Kourtney Roy, Starring Chloe Pirrie — On Digital May 9th
With the rise of amateur podcast shows and YouTube channels, the cryptid community has seen a major boom in recent years. More people than ever have fallen under the allure of cryptozoology—the study of hidden or mythical creatures like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and beyond. And with that fascination comes a growing desire to venture into the unknown and find these creatures for themselves.
But here’s the thing—no one ever stops to ask: what happens if you actually do stumble upon one of these creatures in the middle of the woods? What then?
Kryptic, a Canadian horror thriller from first-time director Kourtney Roy, explores exactly that question. The film follows a cryptid-obsessed woman determined to uncover the truth behind the legend of the Sooka, a mysterious forest-dwelling creature. But when she actually encounters the monster, her life is irrevocably changed.
Starring Chloe Pirrie (Carnival Row, Under the Banner of Heaven), the film leans into a reality-bending experience—one where the discovery of a cryptid creature coincides with a surreal, cosmic twist. As her journey unfolds, the woman finds her identity entangled with that of a missing cryptozoologist, blurring the line between reality and myth.
Kryptic arrives on digital platforms May 9th. So prepare yourself... the truth might be out there, but it’s far stranger than you think.
“The Last Spark of Hope” Trailer: Polish Sci-Fi Thriller Explores a Post-Nuclear Wasteland as One Woman and Her Robot Companion Search for Humanity – Out on April 29th
Call us sci-fi nerds, but whenever there’s a new dystopian thriller set in the aftermath of an environmental crisis—where the planet has become a desert wasteland of debris and junk—we can’t help but get a little excited. It doesn’t matter if the movie was shot on a big budget or a shoestring, in English or another language. Somehow, that setup is just inherently intriguing to sci-fi junkies like us.
And hey! Throw in a robot companion character that resembles something like a distant cousin of Johnny 5 from Short Circuit and Wall-E—well, say no more. You got us. Mark this one as a must-see.
The Last Spark of Hope, a new Polish sci-fi thriller, appears to have all the elements that make sci-fi, nerdy hearts pump with joy and enthusiasm. Written and directed by Piotr Biedron, the film takes place in the fallout of the devastating climate wars, where the deployment of nuclear bombs has rendered most of the planet nearly uninhabitable.
One woman, Eve (Magdalena Wieczorek), must leave her ramshackle campsite and journey through the wasteland of Earth with her trusty robot sidekick, Arthur, in search of supplies, food, and—most importantly—signs of other human life. She needs a “spark of hope” that she’s not the last person alive. But the real question is… what will it mean for her survival if she does find other survivors?
The Last Spark of Hope is making its way to the States, hitting theaters and VOD on April 29th.
“Grassland” Trailer: Mia Maestro Fears Her Secret Cannabis Operation Could Destroy Her Family in Common-Produced Drama with Jeff Kober and Quincy Isaiah – On VOD April 18th
In the times we’re living in—with so much division and animosity in the world—it can often feel like we’re at each other’s throats, even among our closest friends and neighbors.
Grassland, a new indie drama executive produced by Grammy and Oscar-winning rapper-actor-producer Common, dives deep into the question of how much we can truly trust the people living next door.
Mia Maestro (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, FX’s The Strain) stars as a financially struggling single Latina mother who turns to illegally growing cannabis to support her young son. But when her child forms an innocent friendship with the new neighbor boy—whose grandfather just happens to be a cop—her carefully hidden operation begins to unravel. Suddenly, she’s thrust into a precarious position, torn between survival and the risk of being exposed.
The film raises timely and complex questions: What makes us good people? Is it who we are, or what we do, that defines our worth in society?
Also starring Quincy Isaiah (HBO’s Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), Ravi Cabot-Conyers (Disney’s Skeleton Crew), Rachel Ticotin (Total Recall), and veteran character actor Jeff Kober (FX’s Sons of Anarchy, ABC’s China Beach) as the officer next door, Grassland marks the feature debut of filmmakers Sam Friedman and William Bermudez.
Grassland will be available on VOD and digital platforms starting April 18th.
“Fog of War” Trailer: An Injured Pilot Must Uncover Nazi Secrets Within His Fiancée’s Family in This Tense WWII Espionage Thriller Starring Jake Abel, Brianna Hildebrand, and John Cusack – On Digital April 4th
Who doesn’t like a good spy thriller? The lies, the deception—it all makes for a compelling experience. And if the stakes are high, all the better. But when the stakes involve going up against some of the most evil people in history—yes, we’re talking about the Nazis—well, you’ve definitely got our attention.
Fog of War, a new WWII espionage thriller, stars Jake Abel (Love & Mercy, Malignant) as an injured American pilot sent to recover at his fiancée’s family farm estate. But before he can go, his commanders pull him aside with a troubling suspicion: they believe his fiancée’s family may be secretly collaborating with the enemy.
Now, the pilot is given a new mission—lie to his fiancée (played by Deadpool's Brianna Hildebrand) and quietly investigate her wealthy uncle (John Cusack) and the rest of her family for any signs of Nazi sympathies.
Also starring Mira Sorvino, and directed by Michael Day from a script by Luke Langsdale, Fog of War explores the idea that sometimes the most dangerous spies are the ones hiding in plain sight.
Fog of War arrives on Digital on April 4th.
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“Kai Hards” Promo Trailer: Upcoming Indie Documentary Celebrates the Enduring Legacy and Fandom of The Karate Kid and Cobra Kai – Set for Release in 2026
Fancy yourself a fan of the Karate Kid franchise, especially the Cobra Kai series? Then this upcoming indie documentary might be right up your alley! Featuring exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, the film takes a deep dive into the ever-growing fandom surrounding the beloved Karate Kid and Cobra Kai universe. It celebrates the filmmakers, producers, cast, and crew behind the iconic films and hit series. Currently in production and set for release in 2026.
“A Desert” Trailer: A Photographer Gets Pulled Into a Reckless Couple’s Twisted Journey in This Dark Southwest Thriller – In Theaters May 2nd
A photo may be worth a thousand words, but it’s the photographer who holds the hidden story behind the image.
In this twisted indie thriller, a working photographer (Kai Lennox) gets drawn into the dark underbelly of the American Southwest desert when his newest subjects—a reckless couple (Zachary Ray Sherman, Ashley B. Smith) with a dangerous nihilistic streak—take him on an unexpected and unsettling journey. Who knew chasing the perfect shot could spiral into something so sinister? Hitting theaters May 2nd.
“Rosario” Trailer: A Grandmother’s Death Unleashes a Demonic Monster in New Supernatural Horror Thriller Starring Emeraude Toubia and David Dastmalchian – In Theaters May 2nd
In this new horror thriller from director Felipe Vargas and writer Alan Trezza (We Summon the Darkness), Emeraude Toubia stars as Rosario, a Wall Street financial advisor who returns home after her beloved abuelita’s passing. Tasked with packing up her grandmother’s apartment, Rosario uncovers evidence of bizarre rituals involving the dead—and realizes her grandmother may have conjured something sinister. Now, Rosario might be next in line for a demonic inheritance.
David Dastmalchian, Paul Ben-Victor, and José Zúñiga co-star. In theaters May 2nd.
“Shadow of God” Trailer: A Priest Faces Sinister Family Secrets and a Mysterious Resurrection in This Canadian Horror Thriller, Starring Mark O'Brien, Jacqueline Byers, and Shaun Johnston – Streaming on Shudder April 11th
A troubled Catholic priest returns from the Vatican to his childhood home, only to discover his family is still tormented by secrets and sins long buried. But when his father—presumed dead for decades—suddenly reappears, the priest is left questioning whether this is a holy resurrection or a demonic deception.
Starring Mark O'Brien, Jacqueline Byers, and Shaun Johnston, this Canadian horror thriller is directed by Michael Peterson (Knuckleball) and written by Tim Cairo (Lowlife, Off Ramp). Streaming on Shudder starting April 11th.