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Naomi Watts has carved out a remarkable career in Hollywood across a host of genres, not least horror. In particular, she's found a niche appearing in English-language remakes of successful foreign horrors like Funny Games and Goodnight Mommy. On top of that, she's had massive box office success in The Ring and played an indispensable role in David Lynch's cryptic Mulholland Drive.

Goodnight Mommy has an ending that may shock and confuse viewers, but the clues are dotted throughout the 2002 psychological horror if someone pays enough attention. A remake of the Austrian ghost story from 2014 titled the same, Amazon Prime's version of Goodnight Mommy was directed by Matt Sobel and stars Naomi Watts as the unnamed mother character, and Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti as twin brothers, Elias and Lukas. The film premiered on Amazon Prime Video on September 16, 2022, to lukewarm reviews and a 37% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In Goodnight Mommy, two twin boys, Elias and Lukas, lived with their father after their parents' divorce. When it's finally time to return to their estranged mother, a former actress, they are frightened to discover she's covered her entire head in bandages, saying she's had cosmetic surgery. Unsettled by her erratic behavior and neglect, the boys begin to suspect that the woman underneath the bandages is not their mother at all.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences on Tuesday unveiled the shortlist of 15 films that will vie for a nomination for the best international feature film Oscar at the 97th Academy Awards.

85 countries submitted features this award season but several frontrunners quickly pulled out from the pack, and easily made it onto the longlist, including Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, representing France, the Danish contender The Girl With the Needle from director Magnus von Horn, and Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, an Iran-set feature submitted by co-production country Germany.

Several festival circuit favorites made the cut. I’m Still Here, Brazil’s contender comes to the Oscars on referral from Venice, where it won the best screenplay prize. Director Walter Salles scored an Oscar nom back in Central Station in the international category (then known as best foreign-language film), with Fernanda Montenegro, who has a cameo in I’m Still Here,...

For those of you tired of the usual holiday movie diet of sleigh bells, snowflakes, and sugarplum fairies, The Hollywood Reporter‘s international team has whipped up a menu of new foreign films, currently available to screen in the U.S., that offer something for a more refined cinema palate.

Whether your taste runs to Irish hip-hop or Mexican musicals, Austrian horror or Danish romance, family-friend Thai comedy, or adult-only Aussie animation, we’ve got you covered for those long winter nights.

Banel & Adama (Stream/Rent On: Apple, Amazon, Fandango) ‘Banel & Adama’

French-Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s bold debut illuminates the complexities of love and identity in a Romeo and Juliet-style story set in rural Senegal. Featuring captivating performances by Khady Mane and Mamadou Diallo as the titular couple, Banel & Adama combines rich, humanistic storytelling with stunning visuals to conjure a deeply imagined world. While the director...

New York Times bestselling horror author Paul Tremblay — whose The Cabin at the End of the World was adapted into M. Night Shyamalan‘s Knock at the Cabin — has announced his first middle grade novel.

Another will be published in hardcover, e-book, and audio book on July 22, 2025 via Quill Tree Books.

Aimed at readers ages 8-12, the 256-page tale of an unsettling, unbreakable friendship features cover art by Sam Wolfe Connelly, who also created eight interior illustrations.

The official synopsis reads, “When Casey Wilson’s parents tell him that his friend is coming for a sleepover, he has no idea who that might be. Ever since the Zoom Incident, everyone treats him like a pariah, and his tics are worse than ever.

“When Morel appears, he’s not like any friend Casey has ever met. His skin is like clay, and he doesn’t speak. But Casey’s parents are charmed by the strange kid,...

The best Indian horror movies present big scares with an emphasis on myths from that part of the world. The horror genre transcends borders and languages, and each distinct society worldwide has its own mythologies and horror stories, many of which often revolve around their respective belief systems and cultures. While America and the United Kingdom have created some of the greatest horror movies ever made, India also has a strong pedigree of horror titles that can stand toe-to-toe with anything from Western culture.

India is known for its massive movie industry which turns out big spectacles rivaling Hollywood blockbuster productions with great international hits like Rrr. So it is not surprising that they have also produced many notable horror films as well, using many of the same concepts seen in Hollywood, like demonic possession and ghost stories. India knows how to craft a solid horror film, and there are...

Prime Video's new apocalyptic zombie movie has become a streaming success. Amazon's streaming service has been consistently producing original movies since 2019, although they take on a variety of genres, they started making horror movies about a year in, including Black Box, The Lie, Nocturne, and Evil Eye. Since then, that roster has expanded significantly to include more movies, such as Bingo Hell, Black as Night, Madres, The Manor, Master, Goodnight Mommy, Nanny, and perhaps Prime Video's most popular horror movie, Totally Killer.

On the series side, one of Prime Video's most popular efforts is the post-apocalyptic drama Fallout, based on the Bethesda video game series of the same name, which has been renewed for a second season. Though some of its content could be categorized as post-apocalyptic, Prime Video has never directly dabbled in the zombie before. However, its first feature-length installment in the genre has recently seen an unexpected...

Horror streamer Shudder is re-releasing Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s latest horror feature, “The Devil’s Bath,” for a North American theatrical run. While the film was first released theatrically in June, the re-release comes after it was selected as Austria’s Academy Award submission.

Per the official logline: “In 1750 Austria, a deeply religious woman named Agnes has just married her beloved, but her mind and heart soon grow heavy as her life becomes a long list of chores and expectations. Day after day, she is increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts, until the possibility of committing a shocking act of violence seems like the only way out of her inner prison.”

Fifteen screenings are planned across the U.S., with showtimes in California, New York, Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia. The California and New York screenings will be hosted...

Welcome to Deadline’s roundup of the submissions for this year’s Best International Feature Film Oscar category. Below you will find details on each movie that has been officially put forward so far. The official deadline for submission was 5pm Pt October 2. We’ve rounded up 86 submissions so far, against 88 last year, but announcements continue to trickle in. Keeping checking in for updates.

This is a hotly contested race that often results in clear front-runners but also surprising gems. Click on titles for links to reviews, first looks, news and more.

In alphabetical order by country, these are the entries so far:

Albania

Title: Waterdrop

Director: Robert Budina

Prod: Erafilm

Notes: Waterdrop, which will have its festival premiere in Warsaw next month, is set on the shores of Lake Ohrid where City Planner Aida, a tough and successful businesswoman, manages the allocation of lucrative EU subsidies, navigating a corrupt system.

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The much-awaited sequel of the brilliant 2022 psychological mystery horror thriller film Smile is finally here and thankfully it doesn’t suck. Written and directed by Parker Finn, the 2024 film follows a young pop star who begins to experience a series of disturbing events while on tour. Overwhelmed by the horrors she must face her dark past to regain her sanity. Smile 2 stars Naomi Scott in the lead role with Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, and Rosemarie Dewitt starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the psychological horror, thrilling story, and compelling characters in Smile 2 here are some similar movies you should check out next.

It Follows Credit – Northern Lights Films

It Follows is a supernatural horror thriller film written and directed by David Robert Mitchell. The 2014 film follows the story of a teenager...

Exclusive: John Billingsley (Manhunt) and Jeremy Bobb (Cabrini) are set for recurring roles opposite Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen in JonBenét Ramsey limited series at Paramount+.

In addition to Martindale and Owen, they join previously announced cast members Emily Mitchell, Garrett Hedlund, Alison Pill, Owen Teague, Clifton Collins Jr, Rory Cochrane, Chris Bauer, Angus Caldwell, Shea Whigham, Will Patton, Jaime Ray Newman, Josh Stamberg and Margo Martindale.

Exec produced by Richard Lagravenese (Behind the Candelabra), who serves as showrunner, JonBenét Ramsey explores the tragic unsolved murder of the six-year-old beauty queen of the same name. The show follows the Ramsey family, before and after the tragedy, as they go through the painful loss of a child, while facing intense public scrutiny caused by a media frenzy that caused this case to captivate an entire nation. At the heart of the series is the story of Patsy and John Ramsey – exploring...

Mubi has unveiled next month’s streaming lineup, including an exciting lineup of notable new releases: Bertrand Bonello’s Coma (along with Nocturama), Julia Loktev’s The Loneliest Planet (as her newest film premieres at the New York Film Festival), Martin Rejtman’s The Practice alongside his previous features, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, and more.

As David Katz said in his review from 2022’s Berlinale, “Coma is anything but a navel-gazing work, and more one of imaginative empathy. It is not Being Bertrand Bonello, but addressed to and concerning a person of a far-removed generation and gender: his teenage daughter Anna. Some amusing early interactions with pop culture, especially music, come from this cross-generational conversation: ‘turn that garbage off’ et al. But Bonello looks at the Zoomer state of mind, as he does for much else of importance, and has cutting, perceptive and troubling things to say.”

Check out the lineup below,...

As the Oct. 2 deadline for submitting films to the Oscars Best International Feature Film category nears, more than 50 countries have announced their entries.

Any country with a selection committee that has been approved by the Academy is allowed to submit a single film for consideration in the category. Volunteers from all branches of the Academy will cast ballots in an initial round of voting that narrows the field to a 15-film shortlist, which will be announced on Dec. 17. A second round of voting, which is restricted to members who watch all of the shortlisted films, will select the final five nominees.

Here is the complete list of submissions that have been announced so far. Inclusion on this list does not guarantee that a film will qualify, because the Academy still needs to vet each film to make sure it meets eligibility requirements ranging from the amount of non-English dialogue to...

Black Bear’s management arm has signed Austrian filmmaking duo Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the directing team behind the folk horror film, “The Devil’s Bath.” Their latest production competed at this year’s Berlinale and was nominated for a Golden Bear. The film, which Variety called “beautiful” and “gripping in its austerity,” swept the Austrian Film Awards and was recently selected as Austria’s official entry for Best International Feature Film at next year’s Oscars.

Franz and Fiala first attracted attention by writing and directing the horror hit “Goodnight Mommy,” which was selected as Austria’s official submission to the 2014 Academy Awards, inspiring an English-language remake starring Naomi Watts in 2022. The pair went on to write and direct “The Lodge” starring Riley Keough, which premiered at Sundance and was acquired by Neon in 2019.

Next up, the dynamic duo is set to write and direct the film adaptation of...

Exclusive: All Five Eyes, the latest feature from American director Jaclyn Bethany, has added Sophie Kauer, best known for her role as Cate Blanchett’s protégé in Todd Field’s Tár, to its ensemble cast.

The film, which is currently shooting in Kent, England, is led by Greta Bellamacina (Tell That To The Winter) and Honor Swinton Byrne (The Souvenir). Also joining and rounding out the cast today are Aimeé Kelly (Hijack) and Susanne Wuest (Goodnight Mommy).

Bellamacina and Bethany co-wrote the script. This is their second collaboration following Tell That To The Winter Sea, which was exclusively released on Apple TV following a UK theatrical run and distributed by Kaleidoscope worldwide.

All Five Eyes is described as a “female drama” set in a small English village in 1967. Per the synopsis, the film explores the relationship between Cecily (Bellamacina) and Marion (Swinton Byrne), as they grapple with their identities while...

Having twins in the movie business is not something new, even if they are identical. But sometimes fans have no idea that a character they love dearly is a twin in real life. From James and Oliver Phelps from the Harry Potter movies to Rami and Sami Malik – one of whom is an Oscar-winning actor, the other a teacher.

The Crovetti Twins on the set of The Boys | Amazon Studios

Fans usually get to know about twins when both are in the entertainment industry. Like the Olsen twins or the Sprouse twins. But when one is considerably more famous than the other, it sometimes gets lost in the wind that they are part of a pair. And that is what has happened with a The Boys star.

Fans Are Shocked to Know The Boys Star Is a Twin In Real-Life

Cameron Crovetti as Homelander’s son Ryan in The Boys...

Las elegidas: ‘Kneecap’, de Rich Peppiatt, y ‘El Baño del Diablo’, de Veronika Franz y Severin Fiala.

El viernes, Irlanda se convirtió en el primer país en anunciar su representante para la categoría de Mejor Película Internacional de los Oscar 2025: Kneecap. Ambientada en el oeste de Belfast en 2019, la película es un biopic que gira en torno a un trío de hip hop que rapea en su lengua materna, el irlandés, para crear su propio género de rap punk irlandés, fusionando la lengua irlandesa y la inglesa con una energía electrizante.

La película seleccionada por Irlanda está escrita y dirigida por Rich Peppiatt (One Rogue Reporter) y protagonizada por los integrantes del trío de rap, Móglai Bap, Mo Chara y DJ Provaí, junto a un elenco que incluye a Michael Fassbender.

Áine Moriarty, Directora General de la Academia IFTA ha dicho: «La Academia Irlandesa está encantada de anunciar que...

Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s period horror movie The Devil’s Bath will represent Austria in the Best International Feature Film category of the 97th annual Academy Awards.

The submission was decided by a jury of experts and announced by the Film & Music Association of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.

The film, starring Anja Plaschg, premiered in Competition at the 2024 Berlinale, where it won the Silver Bear for Best Cinematography (Martin Gschlacht).

The feature is produced by Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion, in co-production with Heimatfilm Cologne & Coop99.

Set against the backdrop of 18th century Austria, Plaschg stars as a woman trapped in a marriage with a disinterested husband and controlling mother-in-law who makes her life hell.

Struggling with the isolation and despair of her unfulfilling existence, she descends down a dark and disturbing path.

Related: The 2025 Oscars: Everything We Know So Far About The Nominations, Ceremony, Date & Host

Based on historical...

“The Devil’s Bath,” a period psychological thriller which competed at the Berlin Film Festival, has been submitted by Austria as its official Oscar entry for the international feature film race. The film picked up the Silver Bear for best cinematography (for Martin Gschlacht) at the Berlinale.

“The Devil’s Bath” is directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the Austrian filmmaking duo behind “Goodnight Mommy” which had bowed at Venice and had also represented Austria in the Oscar race. It went on to be remade into an English-language film released by Amazon under the same title, starring Naomi Watts.

Set in rural Austria in 1750, “The Devil’s Bath” stars Anja Plaschg, the up-and-coming singer and composer known as Soap & Skin. Plaschg plays Agnes, a young married woman who feels oppressed in her husband’s world, which is devoid of emotions and limited to chores and expectations. A pious and highly sensitive woman,...

The English remake of Speak No Evil risks losing the original's terrifying element of miscommunication between European families. Big names like James McAvoy in the remake may attract viewers, but the psychological aspect may not add much to the original story. The new setting of a British country estate in the remake may offer new cultural dynamics, but the original's impact from the language barrier may be lost.

The remake of Speak No Evil starring James McAvoy is risky because of one crucial element from the Danish original. The film sees James McAvoy return to horror, and is released only a couple of years after the 2022 horror movie of the same name. The positively reviewed original Speak No Evil was a foreign language film, but an English remake takes away some of the original film's most terrifying and effective elements.

The original Speak No Evil is about a Danish and...

I hate when people claim “nothing has come out this year” when it’s more a matter of access versus lack of great content. 2024 has already seen a slew of fantastic horror films released. And yet, I’m still hearing the same sentiment. “Nothing has been released.” “The year is trash.” We must be looking at completely different years because not only has this year been killer, but we’ve received some films that transcend labels. Chris Bumbray recently revealed his own favorites of the year, so I felt it was time to focus on the horror side. So join me as I look back on the best horror films of the first half of 2024.

Longlegs:

Rarely does a film live up to the hype when said hype is astronomically large. Yet Longlegs managed to come along with absolutely tremendous performances and a terror that emanates every bit of celluloid.

It was only after fans rewatched the entirety of "The Boys" in preparation for the season 4 premiere that many realized that the actor who played Ryan Butcher in the season 1 finale had been recast with the series' current actor, Cameron Crovetti. The introduction of the character was a glorified cameo, but when Crovetti took over in season 2, Ryan became what showrunner Eric Kripke would later call, "the key to season 4." With such an expanded role, the creative team wanted a more experienced child actor, and they found that with Crovetti. Fans became so familiar with the performance that they completely forgot the role wasn't originally his, which is understandable considering there was over a year of time separated from season 1 and season 2. Having two actors play one character isn't unheard of and recasting decisions happen all the time, but there's a third actor who has portrayed Ryan Butcher, and this...

In June, Shudder released a movie that is impossible to shake if you watch it. The Austrian/German horror film The Devil's Bath, written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala (the team behind Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge), is not a supernatural nightmare about witchcraft or demonic possession, despite what the title might allude to. Instead, it's something much darker in its bleak realism. Starring musician turned actor Anja Plaschg, The Devil's Bath is a deep dive into the darkness of depression. It's a powerful movie, and one that's admittedly difficult to watch due to the intensity of its subject matter. When it's over, you want to breathe a sigh of relief, as you tell yourself "It was just a movie. It was just a movie." Unfortunately, it's not. Franz and Fiala actually based The Devil's Bath on a real life woman and hundreds more just like her.

The Boys: So much blood, so little continuity? Think again! We’ve got exploding heads, laser eyes, and… wait, did Ryan the super-powered kid just switch actors? Shhh, don’t tell Homelander, but The Boys pulled off a sneaky recast, and nobody blinked.

Cameron Crovetti as Ryan Butcher in The Boys | Kripke Enterprises

With showrunner Eric Kripke breaking it down, buckle up for a season where the only drama is on screen, not behind the scenes. But hey, with all the gore and super-powered mayhem, who’s keeping track, right?

Big Reveal: The Boys’ Ryan Butcher Was Recast and We Missed It! Cameron Crovetti as Rayn in the series The Boys | Kripke Enterprises

Guess what? The Ryan Butcher you’ve been watching in The Boys isn’t the same kid you met in Season 1. Yeah, turns out Cameron Crovetti, who we all know as Homelander’s moody son, wasn’t...

Recasting happens all the time. Tragedy sometimes strikes, like in the case of Professor Albus Dumbledore in the "Harry Potter" series, where Michael Gambon assumed the role following the passing of the original performer, Richard Harris. Oftentimes, recasting is a result of scheduling conflicts, like when "May December" breakout star Charles Melton took over the role of Reggie Mantle on "Riverdale" due to original actor Ross Butler's scheduling conflicts with "13 Reasons Why." And sometimes a character is recast simply because they weren't right for the role, as was famously the case with Eric Stoltz, who was replaced by Michael J. Fox after six weeks of shooting "Back to the Future."

In all of these instances, fans were well aware of the recastings as they happened, but once a person has been playing a role long enough, audiences sometimes forget they were ever recast in the first place. This...

Through the visceral terrors and complex character studies of Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge, filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala have established themselves as some of the boldest voices working in the horror genre, and they continue to build an impressively uncompromising résumé with their latest film, The Devil's Bath. Set in 18th-century Austria, The Devil's Bath follows a woman desperate to find a way out from her suffocating marriage at any cost... even her life.

With The Devil's Bath now streaming on Shudder, Daily Dead had the pleasure of talking with Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala about their latest collaboration, including their extensive research into real-life court records, authentically recreating the 1700s through the movie's costuming and production design, the importance of creating layered characters, and their excitement for their upcoming adaptation of Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts!

Synopsis: "In 1750 Austria, a deeply religious woman named...

The Devil’s Bath, the latest from The Lodge and Goodnight Mommy filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, mines its horror from history. The psychological period film, set in 1750 Austria, follows the disturbing unraveling of a woman pushed toward evil, but it initially began life as a courtroom drama.

The Devil’s Bath is now available to stream on Shudder and stars Anja Plaschg as Agnes, a deeply religious woman embarking on a new life as a newlywed. But poor Agnes struggles to adjust to her new life. She finds herself increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts until the possibility of committing a shocking act of violence seems like the only way out of her inner prison.

Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala get viewers intimately acquainted with Agnes and her fragile mental state, delivering unrelenting, melancholic experiential horror. But the filmmakers originally had a very different...

We’re in a bit of a doldrums period for viable movie awards contenders on streaming, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t good movies hitting streaming services all the time. Today, for example, Apple TV+ is putting up “Fancy Dance,” our top streaming movie pick of the weekend. The drama stars Academy Award nominee Lily Gladstone in her first movie released since “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

In “Fancy Dance,” Gladstone stars as Jax, a resident of the Seneca-Cayuga Nation Reservation. Her sister is missing, and she and her niece Roki (Isabel DeRoy-Olson) set out to find her. The film was a hit at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and has earned positive reviews for first-time writer-director Erica Tremblay and Gladstone, who gives a powerhouse performance as a woman trying to care for her family in the face of a system that doesn’t care about women like them.

Given that the previous two films by the Austrian aunt-nephew directing duo of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala are 2015’s Goodnight Mommy and 2020’s The Lodge, it’s only natural to watch their latest feature, The Devil’s Bath, with the constant expectation of some terrifying other shoe to drop. But while there are plenty of stomach-churning sights and sounds here, the scares come less from the filmmaking and more from society itself in this tale that examines the 18th-century phenomenon of suicide by proxy.

It may not be a horror film, but this gripping historical drama feels entirely in keeping with Franz and Fiala’s previous work. What ties their films together is an astute analysis of the strange brew of emotions women face when forced to enact rigid roles of gender performance. For Anja Plaschg’s Agnes, that confinement comes in the form of a loveless marriage, extensive responsibilities...

“Goodnight Mommy” directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala deliver another twisted tale of familicide on the rural edges of Austria with “The Devil’s Bath.” Set in 1750, the movie draws from actual historical accounts of depressed women who avoided suicide by murdering children to get themselves executed, thereby granting them salvation from Hell.

Franz and Fiala, whose last feature was 2019’s English-language cult-survivor horror “The Lodge,” evade traditional thriller elements like jump scares and plot twists. Instead, this is a harrowing psychodrama that explores ritualistic child killings that allegedly overtook Europe in the 18th century as women’s reprieve from the bottomless pit of despair.

For “The Devil’s Bath,” which premiered at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival and is now in theaters, the Austrian filmmaking duo plumbed troves of research courtesy of Uc Davis professor and historian Kathy Stuart, who spoke about this “suicide by proxy” phenomenon on a blip of a...

The newest release on Shudder, The Devil's Bath, has a title that immediately demands your attention, but it's when you press play that it will grab you by the throat and not let you look away, no matter how much you might want to. Written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the duo behind the chilling horror films Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge, The Devil's Bath succeeds at topping those works. This isn't a film based on a novel or an original idea, but from research into some of the darkest subjects imaginable. This allows Franz and Fiala to tell their own story, but in the end, we're reminded that its origins are found in truth. The Devil's Bath is a film that won't leave you. Instead, it pulls you into the depths with it.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Aggro DR1FT (Harmony Korine)

Is it possible to leave your enfance without losing your terrible? The one-and-only Harmony Korine, now 50 years young, returns with Aggro Dr1ft, a premiere out-of-competition at the Venice Film Festival this week and, by my count, the only so far to have triggered mass walkouts and a ten-minute standing ovation. Shot entirely in infrared and using augmented reality effects and AI imaging tools, Aggro Dr1ft appears like the fever dream of a day spent drinking lean, watching music videos, and playing God of War and Grand Theft Auto. At times it’s funny, dazzling, almost beautiful; at others ugly, misogynistic, numbingly dull. Only he could have made it. – Rory O. (full review)

Where to Stream: Edglrd.

It’s rare for a festival like the Berlinale to allow a genre film in its main competition, and this year it was Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s third feature, The Devil’s Bath, that stood out. The period horror film is drenched in shades of gray and dark greens, painting a 1750s Upper Austria as a place of tangible terror. Country life was simple and labor, divided: a man works, a woman bears children. One such story anchors The Devil’s Bath, where young Agnes marries a nice guy but cannot get pregnant. She spirals into depression—the film’s title references the way mental illness was conceptualized then, as a space owned by the devil—and sinks deeper, ever so helpless.

Fiala and Franz are two of the most influential European genre filmmakers working today and they are meticulous in every single aspect of their filmmaking. They write and...

The Devils Bath is one of the more somber films to hit the screen in some time, but its also a mesmerizing if not haunting meditation on one of the most ominous and overlooked phenomena in modern history. Written and directed by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, the story is set in 1750 Austria, where a deeply religious woman named Agnes begins to feel so lonely and trapped in her confined life that she considers committing a shocking act of violence as the only way out of her misery.

The film recalls Midsommar, but cuts deeper. Culling from research, the filmmakers ultimately illuminate how women throughout Europe during that era attempted to end their lives by committing ritualistic acts of murder. In their eyes, it was a way to overstep the eternal damnation of committing suicide. By confessing their murderous crime, the women would be executed yet cleansed of their sins,...

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MovieWeb's Greg Archer spoke with the great Austrian filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala about their new historical horror drama, The Devil's Bath.

In 1750 Austria, a deeply religious woman named Agnes has just married her beloved, but her mind and heart soon grow heavy as her life becomes a long list of chores and expectations. Day after day, she is increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts, until the possibility of committing a shocking act of violence seems like the only way out of her inner prison. Giving a voice to the invisible and unheard women of the rural past; The Devil's Bath is based on historical court records about a shocking, hitherto unexplored chapter of European history.

The film celebrated its world premiere earlier this year at Berlinale 2024 where it won a Silver Bear for Outstanding...

Plot: Austria in the 18th century. Forests surround villages. Killing a baby gets a woman sentenced to death. Agnes readies for married life with her beloved. But her mind and heart grow heavy. A gloomy path alone, evil thoughts arising.

Review: Depression has been the backbone of many films for some time now. Whether it’s Midsommar and depression caused by loss, or heck even back to Jimmy Stewart in It’s A Wonderful Life, it can really shape a narrative. And it’s only recently that we’ve started to become more accepting of mental health problems. Given how much human history exists, there are countless real-life events that highlight just how primitive we as humans can be. The Devil’s Bath does its job to highlight a time in Austrian history that most would rather forget.

Inspired by a historian on This American Life, The Devil’s Bath follows a woman named Agnes,...

Upper Austria, 1750. A middle-aged woman holding a baby stands at the mouth of a waterfall that seems to stretch all the way up to heaven on a cascade of white foam. What happens next won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone familiar with the rest of Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s captivatingly bleak — and religiously familicidal — body of work: She lobs the child over the edge, with no discernible expression on her face as the little bundle plummets out of sight.

From there, the woman immediately reports herself to the local authorities. The next time we see her, she’s on public display in a local forest, her decapitated head resting in an iron cage next to her corpse. This morbid exhibit is complete with an illustrated plaque that’s meant to serve as a warning for those who would dare to trespass against God. It doesn’t.

Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s The Devil's Bath, starring Anja Plaschg (who is also the composer as Soap&Skin) with Maria Hofstätter and David Scheid, shot by Martin Gschlacht (Silver Bear winner in the 2024 Berlin Film Festival) with costumes by Tanja Hausner (Jessica Hausner’s sister and longtime collaborator) is executive produced by Ulrich Seidel (Rimini and Sparta) and Bettina Brokemper.

The horror in Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s third feature together (following Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge) is very much of this world and rooted in a belief system that brought hundreds of women “weary of this life” to commit acts of murder and confess,...

Horror author Paul Tremblay developed a deep love of spooky stories early on, and he tackles the haunted films genre with his newest novel, “Horror Movie” (out Tuesday via William Morrow and Company). The plot concerns a ’90s cult classic horror movie which left all but one cast member dead and the dark stories that are dredged up as a remake comes closer to reality.

Professionally, Tremblay is no stranger to scary movies, as his 2019 novel “The Cabin at the End of the World” was adapted into M. Night Shyamalan’s 2023 film “Knock at the Cabin.” Next up is an adaptation of his 2015 book “A Head Full of Ghosts,” which is set to be produced by Robert Downey Jr. and directed by Austrian filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, who also helmed dark horror films like “Goodnight Mommy” and “The Lodge.”

Tremblay spoke with Variety about horror movies both real and imagined,...

Austrian filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala already established a reputation for bleak, atmospheric horror with their debut feature, Goodnight Mommy, and their bleaker follow-up, The Lodge. Their latest, The Devil’s Bath, continues that trend with their most despairing effort yet, mining period horror from history. It’s an affecting yet grueling depiction of life in 18th-century Austria, immersive in the way it creates profound, methodical empathy for a tender-hearted woman trapped by isolation.

A shocking act of violence opens The Devil’s Bath, one that lays the narrative groundwork while offering ample horror to hold fans over as it shifts into a meticulous character study. It’s the type of cold open that’s unsettling and taboo, shaking up the filmmakers’ usual depiction of evil children. From there, the film introduces Agnes (Anja Plaschg), a gentle soul with an affinity for kindness and nature. We meet Agnes on the day...

Our Summer Horror Preview 2024 is here! The 2024 slate of summer horror releases looks packed, which is excellent news, considering the year has gotten off to a sluggish start for the genre at the box office. Not only is the release schedule so stacked that it’s guaranteed to keep us distracted while we wait for Halloween, but this summer also brings some of the year’s most anticipated titles from MaXXXine to Alien: Romulus and Longlegs.

This guide covers the highlights of what’s already been announced, but as always, expect a handful of streaming, Digital, and VOD releases to pop up over the next few months as well.

Here are 24 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Summer 2024…

Under Paris – June 5 (Netflix)

French filmmaker Xavier Gens (Mayhem!, Frontier(s)) ensures this summer is stuffed to the gills with shark horror. This time, a shark swims into...

Set in 1750 Austria and following a newly married woman whose grueling day-to-day life gradually gives way to a living nightmare, the official trailer for The Devil's Bath offers a harrowing look at the latest movie from Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz (the relentlessly creative filmmaking duo behind The Lodge and Goodnight Mommy).

Following its North American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, The Devil's Bath will play at the IFC Center in New York beginning June 21st before it starts streaming on Shudder on June 28th.

Tribeca Festival Screenings

North American Premiere: Saturday, June 8th at 9:00pm - Village East by Angelika

Public Screening 2: Sunday, June 9th at 9:00pm - AMC 19th St. East 6

Public Screening 3: Thursday, June 13th at 9:15pm - AMC 19th St. East 6

Synopsis: In 1750 Austria, a deeply religious woman named Agnes has just married her beloved, but her mind and heart...

"Please don't cast me into hell!" Shudder has unveiled the official trailer for the Austrian horror drama film titled The Devil's Bath, which originally premiered at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. Des Teufels Bad, in German, is the latest film from acclaimed genre filmmakers Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz from Austria, directors of horror hits Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge previously. Journey back to 18th century Austria, where a woman faces a grim fate for a horrifying crime. As Agnes prepares for her wedding, sinister forces stir, plunging her into darkness and despair. Starring Anja Plaschg, Maria Hofstätter, and David Scheid. This earned mostly positive reviews out of Berlinale: while "punishingly grim and has some pacing issues, this is a gripping psychological study by directors operating with formidable command." // Continue Reading ›...

In 1750 Austria, a deeply religious woman named Agnes has just married her beloved, but her mind and heart soon grow heavy as her life becomes a long list of chores and expectations. Day after day, she is increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts, until the possibility of committing a shocking act of violence seems like the only way out of her inner prison. Giving a voice to the invisible and unheard women of the rural past; The Devil’S Bath is based on historical court records about a shocking, hitherto unexplored chapter of European history. The Devil's Bath, the latest film from the Austrian dynamic duo of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, is coming...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The Tribeca Film Festival 2024, presented by Okx, is back this week with tons of new genre premieres, retrospectives, and events to get excited about. This year’s Festival, which takes place June 5-16 in New York City showcases the best emerging talent from across the globe alongside established names.

Horror fans can look forward to buzzy titles like The Devil’s Bath, from filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. But the horror extends beyond the Midnight section, including the premiere of Amfad: All My Friends Are Dead. Look for the festival to give special presentations of Alfred Hitchcock and Tod Browning classics, too.

Finally, if you’re a Godzilla fan, don’t miss the epic bash the fest is throwing for the classic film’s 70th anniversary.

Read on for 14 can’t miss events and screenings to catch at Tribeca:

The A-Frame (United States) – World Premiere. A quantum physicist’s machine...

Goodnight Mommy and The Lodge directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala are back with another harrowing tale, but this time hewing closer to real life than providing a genre twist. The Devil’s Bath, which premiered at Berlinale earlier this year, follows a woman in 1750s Austria who commits a horrible act to be freed from her isolated life. Starring Anja Plaschg, David Scheid, and Maria Hofstätter, the first trailer and poster have now arrived ahead of a U.S. release.

Here’s the synopsis: “In 1750 Austria, a deeply religious woman named Agnes has just married her beloved, but her mind and heart soon grow heavy as her life becomes a long list of chores and expectations. Day after day, she is increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts, until the possibility of committing a shocking act of violence seems like the only way out of her inner prison.

The Devil’s Bath – the latest genre movie from Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the directing duo behind the disturbing horror films Goodnight Mommy (the original, not the Naomi Watts remake) and The Lodge – has been acquired by Shudder, with the streaming service planning to release it in North America, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand on June 28th. With that date just a few weeks away, Shudder has released a trailer for the film… and oddly, they chose to release it through the Letterboxd X account first, as you can see below. But it has since made its way to YouTube and is now embedded at the top of this article.

Watch the official trailer for The Devil’s Bath—opens at @ifccenter in New York on June 21 and arrives on @shudder June 28. Add to watchlist https://t.co/LL3VccWQlE pic.twitter.com/nFnlSTP0Gt

— Letterboxd (@letterboxd...

Austrian filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala (The Lodge, Goodnight Mommy) are back with The Devil’s Bath, and Shudder has debuted the official trailer today.

The Devil’s Bath opens at the IFC Center in New York June 21 before arriving exclusively on Shudder June 28. Courtesy of Letterboxd, check out the trailer and poster below.

Shot on 35mm, The Devil’s Bath is based on historical records, and the film debuted at Berlinale this year where it was awarded a Silver Bear for Martin Schlacht’s cinematography.

Here’s the official plot synopsis for the German-language horror movie: “In 1750 Austria, a deeply religious woman named Agnes has just married her beloved, but her mind and heart soon grow heavy as her life becomes a long list of chores and expectations. Day after day, she is increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts, until the possibility of committing a...

The summer movie season continues with a handful of festival highlights coming to theaters, including Cannes premieres both from this and last year, alongside family dramas, vampire flicks, and one of the boldest experimental offerings of the year. We should also mention Richard Linklater’s Hit Man, which was on last month’s list for its all-too-limited theatrical release, will hit its final resting place on Netflix beginning June 7.

14. The Devil’s Bath (Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala; June 28 on Shudder)

Goodnight Mommy directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala are back with another harrowing tale, but this time hewing closer to real life than providing a genre twist. Savina Petkova said in her review, “Early Modern times were messy: Europe was finding its footing in rationalism, seeking independence from the centuries-long spiritual yoke of Catholicism and Protestantism. Shedding the skin of the past seems, at least from our standpoint today, the...

A couple months ago, we learned that The Devil’s Bath – the latest genre movie from Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the directing duo behind the disturbing horror films Goodnight Mommy (the original, not the Naomi Watts remake) and The Lodge – had been acquired by Shudder, with the streaming service planning to release it in North America, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand sometime this summer. Now we know the exact release date. The Devil’s Bath will be available to stream on Shudder as of June 28th.

The Devil’s Bath – which has been described as “utterly harrowing”, “chilling”, and “impactful” – is a German-language film that is set in 1750 Austria, at a time when villages were surrounded by deep forests. There, a deeply religious woman has married her beloved, but her mind and heart soon grow heavy as her life becomes a long list of chores and expectations. Day after day,...