The Hollywood Reporter can unveil a first-look image of Anna Biller’s The Face of Horror, set in the plague-haunted medieval era.
Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid, I Know What You Did Last Summer), Kristine Froseth (The Buccaneers), Ellie Bamber (William Tell), Bella Heathcote (Pieces of Her, Relic), Leo Suter (Vikings: Valhalla, Lynley) and Ben Radcliffe (Masters of the Air) star in Biller’s new film, now shooting in Prague. The American filmmaker is best known for 2007’s Viva and 2016’s The Love Witch.
The Face of Horror is based on the most famous Japanese ghost story of all time, Yotsuya Kaidan. It follows knight Edward Carnifex (Hauer-King), who marries his devoted love Eleanor (Froseth) after murdering her father — only to betray her for a wealthier bride (Heathcote). And it is only a matter of time before Eleanor will be forced to take a bloody revenge…
Bamber plays Eleanor’s sister Beatrice and Suter stars as Edward’s squire and Beatrice’s suitor, Richard. Radcliffe is Roger, the ill-fated tailor drawn into Edward’s web of deception. Embankment Films released a still from the movie on Thursday, showing Hauer-King as Edward stood behind Froseth’s Eleanor.
The film is produced by Biller, with Mike Goodridge and James Bowsher for Good Chaos. The company’s upcoming slate includes Edward Berger’s Ballad for a Small Player (coming to Netflix later this year) and László Nemes’s Orphan, in competition at Venice.
Jared Sanford is executive producing and Sirena Films is servicing the production in the Czech Republic. Other executive producers are Phil Hunt for Head Gear Films and Compton Ross for Metrol Technology.
“The Love Witch established Anna as a singular voice in genre cinema — a cult classic that resonated with cinephiles and horror fans worldwide, which has had a long life on multiple platforms,” said Goodridge. “She has followed this up with a bigger, bolder, even more ferociously entertaining film designed for the big screen: laced with sly humour, unapologetically bloody, and rendered in her signature technicolour style. A medieval nightmare with bite — this is the kind of fresh storytelling that current audiences demand.”
Embankment handles worldwide sales and co-represents U.S. rights with WME Independent.