David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future Gets First Trailer, Cannes Premiere

The OG king of the body horror genre is back. After an eight-year hiatus, David Cronenberg will premiere his highly anticipated film Crimes of the Future in competition for the Palme d’Or at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. While Cronenberg has a 1970 film called Crimes of the Future, this is reportedly not a remake of that film. The festival celebrated body horror last year, awarding Julia Ducournau’s Titane with the highest honor, so it will be interesting to see if the jury continues in the vein of the grotesque.

Crimes of the Future stars Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux and Kristen Stewart, who was most recently in the spotlight for her Oscar-nominated performance in Spencer. The trailer features monotone voiceover repeating “It is time to stop speaking…It is time to stop seeing…It is time to listen” over spooky images of robots clinically stabbing the flesh of the actors—and even one moment where someone’s eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Needless to say, this one isn’t for the squeamish or faint of heart.

Take a look:

Neon owns the distribution rights in the United States; notably, they have been big supporters of body horror films over the last few years, bringing Cronenberg’s son Brandon Cronenberg’s visceral sci-fi Possessor to the screen, as well as Titane.

Crimes of the Future will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2022.