Shudder has debuted its official trailer for its latest film The Power, and the timing is particularly impeccable for those who need their horror fix since Halloween is tragically still months away. Rose Williams plays the ill-fated protagonist, and most recently starred in ITV’s Sanditon based on Jane Austen’s unfinished manuscript. Corinna Faith serves as writer-director, coming off of a BAFTA nomination for her short film Care. Joining Williams in the cast are Shakira Rahman, Charlie Carrick, Diveen Henry, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Nuala McGowan, Emma Rigby and Theo Barklem-Biggs.
Faith has chosen a great historical backdrop for the film — Britain in the 1970s during nationwide electrical blackouts. (The blackouts in Britain during the ‘70s were known as the Three-Day Week and were implemented to conserve electricity due to strikes and industrial action from coal miners.) Williams stars as nurse trainee Val who starts working the night shift at an infirmary during this time. A night shift combined with blackouts in a dilapidated hospital already signals a chilling and terrifying horror film that caters to our basest fears. The trailer features all of the markers of a classic haunting — unseen figures, possessions, characters being predictably dense, and the like. Hopefully, we’ll see some homages and references to 70s horror films like The Amityville Horror and Asylum.
When writing her feature debut, Faith turned back to the basics of a good ghost story, but wanted to include a modern feminist spin. The writer-director explained in a statement via Shudder: "I was writing during the explosion of resistance to silence and passivity that came with the Me Too movement. And it felt like the landscape was changing to some extent. The idea that an angry spirit could neatly be put to rest, made quiet at the end of a story, felt plain wrong." We can already see elements of this all-too-real tone in the trailer, as Val is questioned and discredited when she tries to warn the rest of the staff of the malevolent force in the hospital.
Shudder is currently killing it with an upcoming slate of horror films to die for. Notable recent highlights include news of George A. Romero’s lost film The Amusement Park, as well as our self-described “batshit insane” horror-comedy Slaxx about a pair of demonic jeans. With The Power joining this trio of exciting upcoming fare, you might want to check that your Shudder subscription is up-to-date.
The Power comes to Shudder on April 8. Check out the movie's trailer below.
Here's the official synopsis and poster for The Power:
"London, 1974. As Britain prepares for electrical blackouts to sweep across the country, trainee nurse Val (Rose Williams) arrives for her first day at the crumbling East London Royal Infirmary. With most of the patients and staff evacuated to another hospital, Val is forced to work the night shift, finding herself in a dark, near empty building. Within these walls lies a deadly secret, forcing Val to face both her own traumatic past and deepest fears in order to confront the malevolent force that’s intent on destroying everything around her."
