David Cronenberg Discovers Connection Beyond Death in New Trailer for The Shrouds

      Following his long-anticipated return with Crimes of the Future, David Cronenberg promptly released The Shrouds, a darkly humorous conspiracy thriller starring Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, and newly minted Oscar nominee Guy Pearce. Sideshow and Janus Films have launched the new trailer for the film, which has been selected for Cannes, TIFF, and NYFF, ahead of its opening in New York and Los Angeles on April 18, leading to a nationwide release on April 25.

      Here’s the synopsis: “In a chilling, deceptively calm near-future, a techno-entrepreneur named Karsh (Vincent Cassel) has created new software that enables the bereaved to witness the gradual decomposition of their deceased loved ones. While Karsh is still grappling with the loss of his wife (Diane Kruger) to cancer—and entering a peculiar sexual relationship with his wife's sister (also Kruger)—a series of vandalized graves that utilize his ‘shroud’ technology puts his business at stake, prompting him to uncover a potentially significant conspiracy. Written after the passing of the director's wife, David Cronenberg's new film serves as both a deeply personal confrontation with grief and a plunge into a noir-inspired dystopia, set against a disquieting backdrop of self-driving cars, data theft, and AI personal assistants. Maintaining Cronenberg’s signature blend of darkness and humor, The Shrouds presents a clever and thought-provoking exploration of the physical and digital, the mortal and the eternal.”

      Rory O’Connor remarked in our Cannes review, “David Cronenberg’s films have often envisioned a future where technology infiltrates our collective psyche. After 55 years in the director’s remarkable career, has that future finally arrived? In Cronenberg’s latest work—the sleek, twisted The Shrouds—there are two barely speculative ideas: that an AI chatbot could be designed to resemble a recently departed loved one; and more significantly, that a company might conceive the notion of surrounding our closest friends and family with HD cameras before they are laid to rest, enabling us to check in on their decaying bodies at the touch of an app.”

      Watch the trailer below.