How dark isDavid Cronenbergwilling to go? The survey says: pretty freaking dark. Janus Films just dropped the release date and new teaser trailer for Cronenberg’s latest descent into darkness,The Shrouds.Written and directed by the legendary creator ofThe Fly, the long-awaited film was first released in competition at Cannes in 2024, then played at the Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival, and has been sitting on its mystery release date for months. Now, American audiences nationwide will be able to witness the next installment of Cronenberg’s sci-fi, horror legacy.
According toDeadline, Sideshow and Janus Films will be releasingThe Shrouds, onFriday, Apr. 18in New York and Los Angeles, and nationwide on Friday, Apr. 25, nearly a year after its premiere.The film, starring Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, Guy Pearce, and Sandrine Holt, has been summarized as:“Karsh, an innovative businessman and grieving widower, builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud.“Sounds like fertile ground for the twisted mind of theScannerscreator.
The Shroudsis the most personal project of the Canadian auteur’s career,as it is an autobiographical expression of grief following the passing of his wife, Carolyn Zeifman. Through battling with his personal grief, Cronenberg created a dark tale about a man struggling with grief that leads him to create GraveTech, which allows him to monitor his wife in her shroud. Currently sitting at 73% onRotten Tomatoesafter its festival run, fans are eager to get their hands on Cronenberg’s latest endeavor. Janus Films released a short, but sweet, trailer to promote the film’s nationwide release.Check out the latest teaser trailer below.
David Cronenberg is Back in a Dark, Yet Funny Way
While the Cannes crowd were understandably too intimidated to laugh at David Cronenberg’s newest filmcentered around his personal loss, the director chalked it up to the pressure of the festival environment and is excited to see other audiences' reactions. As the director commented at the time of its original showing,“Life without humor is not something I could bear,” so the film, like all of his work, is sure to be laced with his absurd sense of humor that audiences have fallen in love with.
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Those lucky viewers that have seen Cronenberg’s grief film have, of course, mixed reviews, but the consensus seems to be that the film, like grief, takes time to settle in. One reviewer on Letterboxd namedFilipe Furtadocaptured the essence of the film, without spoiling anything for fans who didn’t get a chance to seeThe Shroudsat the festivals, and it is more than intriguing.
“Flesh disappearing into the virtual. Grieving for a whole world clouded by digital uncertainty. Very sad and very funny. Wonderful actors (Cassel has never being better). Chilling emotional. It made me think a lot of a less violent, more sorrowful Videodrome. Along with Ferrara’s Zeros and Ones, the greatest film about being alive in the here and now.”
Another aspect viewers could agree on was how the film balanced sadness and hilarity, as most Cronenberg projects do. Fans of the body horror visionary can seeThe Shroudsin theaters nationwide starting Apr. 25.
The Shrouds
