Shudder has released the trailer for Martyrs Lane, the latest exclusive horror film to be added to the impressive catalog of the streaming service. Led by child actors Kiera Thompson and Sienna Sayer, the Martyrs Lane trailer teases a disturbing story about a girl who meets a supposedly guarding angel in the woods.
The trailer presents us to Leah (Thompson), a lonely 10-years-old girl who’s struggling with the lack of attention from her mother. One day, Leah finds a bloody feather in the woods, which seems to create a connection to a winged child (Sayer), who claims to be a guarding angel. The two children grow closer, but this relationship turns out dangerous, as Leah slowly learns her “guarding angel” might have evil intentions.
Written and directed by Ruth Platt, and expanded from her 2019 short film by the same name, Martyrs Lane also stars Denise Gough, Steven Cree, Hannah Rae, and Anastasia Hille. Martyrs Lane is produced by Christine Alderson and Katie Hodgkin for Ipso Facto Productions and developed and financed by the BFI, Lipsync, and Sharp House.
The trailer does have some Guillermo del Toro vibes, particularly his movie The Devil's Backbone, also a ghost story that hid a melancholic and poignant story beneath the scares.
Martyrs Lane will be world-premiered at the 2021 Virtual Fantasia International Film Festival on August 19. The film comes exclusively to Shudder on September 9. Check out the chilling trailer of Martyrs Lane below.
Here’s Martyrs Lane’s official synopsis:
In this unsettling ghost story, Leah, 10, lives in a large, old house with her family but can’t quite work out why her mother seems so distant. At night she is visited by a mysterious guest, who might be able to give her some answers. With a new challenge every night, Leah is rewarded with bits of knowledge that, when pieced together, threaten to shine a dangerous light on both the truth in her nightmares and of the world she lives in.