As many films have taught us over the years, religion and horror are a great mix for giving us the chills. Dealing with one’s core beliefs and meddling with the unknown is something that can be terrifying at best, and go completely wrong at worst. Based on that premise, Shudder is releasing The Last Thing Mary Saw, a horror movie that follows a girl raised in an extremely conservative household in the mid-nineteenth century.
The trailer for The Last Thing Mary Saw looks and feels like a cross (pun intended) between The Witch and Paul Verhoeven’s recent drama Benedetta – and we’re not complaining. As Mary (Stefanie Scott) is confronted about her behavior after her grandmother’s death, she becomes the target of religious fanatics who think the girl might have had contact with occult forces. But the footage suggests something else far more mundane might have caused all the commotion.
The cast of The Last Thing Mary Saw features some frequent horror-story players, including Rory Culkin, who was previously in Hulu's Castle Rock, and now stars in a feature film for the first time since 2020’s Materna. Also starring is Isabelle Fuhrman, who became worldwide famous after her chilling performance in 2009’s Orphan and was recently in Escape Room 2: Tournament of Champions.
The Last Thing Mary Saw marks the feature film debut of director and screenwriter Edoardo Vitaletti. The film was part of the Official Selection at the Fantasia International Film Festival back in August, and was also featured at the FrightFest London film selection.
The Last Thing Mary Saw premieres exclusively on Shudder on January 20. Check out the all-new trailer below:
And check out the film's official synopsis and poster below:
Southold, New York, 1843: Young Mary (Scott), blood trickling from behind the blindfold tied around her eyes, is interrogated about the events surrounding her grandmother’s death. As the story jumps back in time, we witness Mary, raised in a repressively religious household, finding fleeting happiness in the arms of Eleanor (Fuhrman), the home’s maid. Her family, who believe they are seeing, speaking, and acting on God’s behalf, view the girls’ relationship as an abomination, to be dealt with as severely as possible. The couple attempt to carry on in secret, but someone is always watching, or listening, and the wages of perceived sin threaten to become death, with the tension only heightened by the arrival of an enigmatic stranger (Culkin) and the revelation of greater forces at work.
