Collider is excited to exclusively reveal the first trailer for The Righteous, a genre-bending black-and-white film written and directed by star Mark O’Brien. The film made its world premiere at the Fantasia Festival in 2021, where it won Best Screenplay, turning it into a highly-anticipated release for fans of the macabre.
The trailer introduces us to Frederic (Henry Czerny) and Ethel Mason (Mimi Kuzyk), a pious couple dealing with the hearth-wrecking grief of losing a daughter. In their pain, the couple turns to God, trying to find the meaning behind the young girl’s death. For some reason, Frederic feels guilty about his daughter’s death, asking God for a proper penance to cleanse his sins. His prayers are answered when a young man (O’Brien) stumbles in the Manson’s family front door.
Aaron Smith, the young man, claims he was lost in the woods and asks the couple to shelter him.
Believing it’s the right thing to do, the couple invites the young man to stay with them. However, as time goes by, Frederic realizes that Aaron might not be who he seems, as the young man could be there to test the limits of the couple’s faith. While the trailer doesn’t reveal many plot details, it underlines how The Righteous is a creepy psychological thriller that dares the audience to question everything they see, an intriguing premise made even more dreadful by the black-and-white aesthetics.
Commenting on his directorial feature debut, O’Brien said:
“I wanted to make a film that plays with our preconceived notions about what a movie’s genre should be, while telling a human story we may believe ourselves to be familiar with just enough to get comfortable until it surprises you once and again. A movie should evolve and expand as it plows forward, hopefully making the viewer a participant in its evolution, guessing and wondering what could be next. With this film, I think we’ve created something exciting, shocking and singular that will linger in your mind longer after the last frame.”
The Righteous has been acquired by Arrow Films for a digital release in the US and UK on June 10th. Vortex will release the film theatrically & on digital in Canada on June 3rd. Check out the first trailer below:
Here's the official synopsis for The Righteous:
A unique and darkly engaging spiritual thriller, strikingly shot in black and white, The Righteous tells the story of Frederic (Henry Czerny) a grieving man struggling with his faith, who helps an injured young man, Aaron Smith (Mark O’Brien) who stumbles onto his property one night, claiming to be lost in the woods. Frederic and his wife (Mimi Kuzyk) invite the man to stay for the night, but Frederic soon begins to have doubts about this enigmatic stranger’s story - and his motives for being there. When Aaron asks Frederic to commit an unspeakable deed, it becomes clear that the man is not who he seems, and has been sent to test the very limits of Frederic’s existence.