Nowadays, it’s not often that a movie can look terrifying and unsettling without being dependent on CGI demons or a hokey gimmicks, but Martha Marcy May Marlene offers more chills in a two minute trailer than most Hollywood flicks offer up in two hours. And it's not even a horror movie!
Starring Elizabeth Olsen (yes, from the same family that brought us those Full House twins), this psychological thriller offers some insight into the world of dreams and paranoia. It centers on what happens to a person’s mind after they free themselves from a cult, and the effects that trying to survive without their "group" has on them.
One thing that’s easy to spot in this trailer is the complete lack of cliché genre thrills. There are no smash cuts to a knife-wielding maniac or creepy old women presumed to be long dead. This trailer depends all on psychological fear, and, really, that always results in the best kinds of "scary" movies.
Olsen looks great, believably capturing the desperation and paranoia of her character. The notion presented in Martha Marcy May Marlene seems to be this: After being brainwashed and corrupted by a cult for any amount of time, can you really trust yourself to know what’s real? While the rest of the cast, rounded out by Sarah Paulson and Hugh Dancy, all look to own their roles, it's John Hawkes that looks particularly creepy as the cult's most dominant member.
Martha Marcy May Marlene wowed critics at the Sundance Film Festival this past January, so expect the film, directed by first-timer Sean Durkin, to break out in a big way when it’s released on October 7.
