Aurora Perrineau (Westworld, Abraham’s Boys), KJ Smith (Sistas), and Olivia Applegate (Love & Death, Organ Trail) are set to lead ROT, a visceral, female-driven psychological body-horror feature debut from writer-director Cat Del Re.

ROT is gearing up for a spring production; Cat Del Re is producing with Jessy Greer under their banner, We’re There Films. 

Set against an intimate, grounded backdrop, ROT follows “Astrid (Perrineau), a woman whose body begins to turn against her in surreal, increasingly nightmarish ways as she’s forced to confront everything she’s refused to feel. Beneath the body horror is a story about shame, memory, and the terrifying, liberating act of finally telling your own truth.”

Additional casting is underway, but talent behind the camera includes cinematographer Andressa Cordeiro, VFX partners at Dexter Studios, and award-winning sound designer Rick Hromadka (The Strangers, The Wild Robot), whose collective work has been recognized by the Emmys, Grammys, and the Academy. And sound tends to be critical when it comes to getting under your skin with body horror.

“Every cinematographer dreams of a script like Cat’s, and I am super excited by her visual take on how to achieve this,” Cordeiro says. “It is bold, original, and refreshing to see such an honest story being told in such an innovative way. We are exploring ‘uncharted territory’ with ROT, and I couldn’t have asked for better guidance than Cat’s.”

That “uncharted territory“ refers to Ut-e, ROT’s original creature that’ll be realized through ambitious practical effects.

Ut-e, built in the spirit of ’80s and ’90s horror, will be brought to life on screen entirely through on-set puppetry, with five different functioning puppets designed for specific purposes and emotional ranges. The character is described as “a universal, deeply relatable presence audiences can emotionally attach to on sight—with the emotional resonance of Wall-E and the charm and generational grab of creatures like Gizmo from Gremlins. Much like how viewers connected with Wall-E despite his mechanical, nonhuman form, Ut-e is designed to evoke that same depth of feeling—only here, she’s a body part.”

That gives some insight into what’s already shaping up to be an exciting project featuring a blend of intimate psychological body horror, practical creature work, and  “a darkly comic descent into self-confrontation and rebirth.”

Stay tuned for more on ROT as it arrives.