The first trailer for Serenity has been released online, and it’s tough to make heads or tails of this thing. The film hails from writer/director Steven Knight, who previously directed the Tom Hardy thriller Locke and is the screenwriter behind the hit series Peaky Blinders and Taboo, as well as films like Eastern Promises and the upcoming The Girl in the Spider's Web. This original thriller stars Matthew McConaughey as a fishing boat captain who leads tours off a tropical island whose life is upended when his ex-wife (Anne Hathaway) asks him to murder her abusive husband.

The film doesn’t really look as straightforward as that, though, and indeed feels more like an episode of Bloodline that was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. There’s plenty of intrigue, but lots of enigmatic glances, gestures, and dialogue that point to something a bit more sinister bubbling under the surface. This trailer is a bit confusing, but Locke was a phenomenal piece of filmmaking so I’m definitely checking this one out.

Watch the Serenity trailer below via People. The film also stars Jason Clarke, Djimon Hounsou, Jeremy Strong, and Diane Lane. Serenity opens in theaters on October 19th.

Here’s the official synopsis for Serenity:

From the creative mind of Oscar nominee Steven Knight comes a daringly original, sexy, stylized thriller. Baker Dill (Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey) is a fishing boat captain leading tours off a tranquil, tropical enclave called Plymouth Island. His quiet life is shattered, however, when his ex-wife Karen (Academy Award winner Anne Hathaway) tracks him down with a desperate plea for help. She begs Dill to save her – and their young son – from her new, violent husband (Jason Clarke) by taking him out to sea on a fishing excursion, only to throw him to the sharks and leave him for dead. Karen’s appearance thrusts Dill back into a life he’d tried to forget, and as he struggles between right and wrong, his world is plunged into a new reality that may not be all that it seems.

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Image via Aviron Pictures
serenity-matthew-mcconaughey
Image via Aviron Pictures
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Image via Aviron Pictures