NEON has released the official trailer for David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future – and it's just as gross as we hoped it would be.
The film is set in a not-so-distant future where humans have adapted to a more 'synthetic' environment that has allowed them to evolve beyond their natural state and ultimately alter their genetic makeup. A celebrity performance artist named Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen), along with his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux), publicly showcase the metamorphosis of their organs in avant-garde performances. Timlin (Kristen Stewart), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which leads her to discover a mysterious group who is also obsessed with the couple – though they may have sinister intentions.
In the trailer, which can be viewed above, we get a glimpse at Saul's personal operating theatre where he and Caprice track the growth of new organs – which they then remove for a sold-out audience during their 'artistic' performances. In one scene, Stewart even gets the chance to see Saul's organs up close, though we can't tell if she seems horrified or elated. At one point, she whispers in his ear, "Surgery is the new sex." We're still not sure what to make of that guy with the multiple ears sewn to his forehead, though.
Cronenberg previously stated that the film is a "meditation on human evolution… the ways in which we have had to take control of the process because we have created such powerful environments that did not exist previously."
"[It's] an evolution of things I have done before. Fans will see key references to other scenes and moments from my other films. That's a continuity of my understanding of technology as connected to the human body. Technology is always an extension of the human body, even when it seems to be very mechanical and non-human."
He's right: the movie feels like a combination of Videodrome and ExistenZ, but with an even more sinister tone. It's possible that this will be the darkest body horror film that Cronenberg has ever released...and we can't wait.
Crimes of the Future will premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival where it will be in competition for the Palme d'Or. The film will hit North American theaters on June 3. For more, check out our extensive guide to upcoming movies of 2022.
