We got our first teaser trailer today for Alex Garland’s new A24 film, Men, a haunting, ethereal horror-drama starring Jessie Buckley, who just received her first Oscar nomination yesterday for her supporting performance in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Netflix drama, The Lost Daughter. 

Buckley stars as Harper, a recently widowed young woman who travels to the English countryside to grieve and heal alone. Except she doesn’t appear to actually be alone, as a strange presence seems to be stalking her from the woods. Rory Kinnear (who played MI6 agent Tanner in the last several James Bond films) co-stars, as does Paapa Essiedu (from HBO’s hit miniseries I May Destroy You). 

As anyone who’s seen Garland’s previous films as writer-director – his 2015 sci-fi thriller Ex Machina or his 2018 sci-fi psychological horror film Annihilation – knows, part of the game is figuring out what the game actually is. So, it makes sense that A24 is opting to not reveal too much about Men, and that this teaser trailer functions mostly as an extremely effective mood piece. Garland, however, who started out as a novelist (The Beach), before writing two screenplays that would become Danny Boyle films (the 2002 post-apocalyptic zombie horror film 28 Days Later… and the 2007 sci-fi adventure thriller Sunshine), has proven to be a gifted screenwriter and conceptualist. Therefore, whichever mood he would like to set, we’re ready to experience it. 

Men is slated for a May 20 release. 

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