In the early 1950s, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency began a series of highly confidential and experimental programs to develop new interrogation methods, which would eventually lead them to one of the most well-known, and highly confidential programs: MK Ultra. As the 1960s were underway, the Americans were unaware that their government was using unwitting test subjects to experiment with dangerous drugs to essentially test the effectiveness of mind control. It wasn't until the 1970s that the American people became aware of these unethical practices, but the full scope of the government's unethical testing wasn't revealed until 2001 when the documents were declassified. This controversial period in history sets the stage for Cinedigm's new psychological thriller that explores the larger-than-life true story of MK Ultra.

In an exclusive new trailer shared with Collider, Anson Mount sheds the ranks of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and transforms into a brilliant psychiatrist who is thrust into the terrifying political intrigue of the MK Ultra program and the unconscionable experimentation undertaken by the CIA in the 1960s. His professional and ethical boundaries are tested as he is enlisted to help with the program at the rural and isolated Mississippi Mental Hospital, where the government is using drugs to weaken individuals and force them into confessions that may or may not be true. Will he fall in line and do the government's bidding? Or will he break rank and push back against them once the truth is exposed?

This psychological thriller has a little added weight to its authenticity, seeing as it was written and directed by Ex-Intelligence Officer Joseph Sorrentino, who uses MK Ultra to examine the dangerous experiments that the United States has conducted against its own citizens. His real-world experience is sure to help make the film more convincing than other films on the topic. Fact is almost always stranger and more heinous than fiction.

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Image via Cinedigm 

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In addition to Mount, MK Ultra stars Jason Patric (Lost Boys), Jen Richards (Mrs. Fletcher), Jaime Ray Newman (Dopesick), Alon Aboutboul (Snowfall), and David Jensen (Queen Sugar). The film's director produced the project alongside Lee Broda, Brian Mercer, Jerry Tankersley, Andreas Schilling, and Seth Willenson, with Sigurjon Sighvatsson, Suzy Bergner, and Tom Rooker serving as executive producers on the film. .

MK Ultra arrives in theaters and on-demand on October 7. Check out the trailer and the exclusive new poster down below:

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