IFC Midnight has released the first trailer for Hatching, a Finnish horror movie that’s part of Sundance Film Festival's official 2022 lineup. Directed by Hanna Bergholm, the movie follows a girl who finds a mysterious egg she finds in the woods, and the grotesque creature that hatches from it.
The trailer opens with a typical mid-class suburban family posing for a photo they’ll most certainly post on some social network. The family and their house seem to be made of plastic, unspoiled by the dirtiness of real life. Suddenly, the fabricated peace of the family is interrupted when a big black raven enters the room unannounced, causing an accident that leads to the destruction of the cellphone used for taking pictures. The bird is captured by the family’s young Tinja (Siiri Solalinna), who is trying to protect the creature. The evil deeds of the bird must be punished, though, and the family’s Mother (Sophia Heikkilä) viciously breaks its neck.
The disturbing opening scene reveals a lot about the film, which will discuss how a parent’s pressure can affect children unable to achieve perfection. However, things escalate quickly in little more than two minutes. First, Tinja finds an egg in the woods and decides to take care of it in secret. Then, the egg starts to grow until it hatches a giant bird-like creature. If that’s not enough for you, know that the beast will eventually mimic Tinja, becoming more human as time goes by. There’s a lot of blood and body horror for everyone in the short trailer, and Hatching is already promising to be one of the most disturbing horror films of the year.
Bergholm directs from a script by Ilja Rautsi. Hatching also stars Jani Volanen as Father, Saija Lentonen as Coach, and Reino Nordin. The film’s monster was brought to life by the lead animatronic designer Gustav Hoegen and his team, known for films like Star Wars and Jurassic World.
Hatching will premiere virtually at Sundance on January 23 at 1:55 a.m. ET, in the Midnight section of the festival. The film comes to theaters and VOD on April 29. Check out the skin-crawling trailer below.
And here’s Hatching official synopsis:
In Hatching, 12-year-old gymnast, Tinja is desperate to please her image-obsessed mother, whose popular blog ‘Lovely Everyday Life’ presents their family’s idyllic existence as manicured suburban perfection. One day, after finding a wounded bird in the woods, Tinja brings its strange egg home, nestles it in her bed, and nurtures it until it hatches. The creature that emerges becomes her closest friend and a living nightmare, plunging Tinja beneath the impeccable veneer into a twisted reality that her mother refuses to see. Hatching is a fascinating portrait of the nature of maternal instinct, as Tinja battles to come to terms with the genuine emotional bond with her grotesque and bloodthirsty newfound family while contending with the fraying connection to her own demanding mother.