IFC Films’ new horror-comedy Werewolves Within just got its first trailer, which seems exactly like if you mashed together Knives Out and The Dead Don’t Die into one film. The flick is based on the Ubisoft game of the same name, a multiplayer VR set in a medieval-fantasy town that is being attacked by a werewolf. Players have to guess which one of the villagers is the werewolf that is slowly decimating the town.

If this sounds familiar to you, it probably is — assuming you were dragged to a party by your parents and had to socialize with the other kids. Werewolves Within is based on the game “Mafia” or “Werewolf.” Let me reminisce for you — you’re sitting in a circle with your eyes closed. Someone is chosen to be the mafioso or the werewolf and they kill someone each night. As a group, you deduce who the killer is and either ostracize or murder them (depending on how dark your friends liked to get). The problem is that this is essentially a guessing game, and you may end up killing someone who is not the mafioso or werewolf and they can continue their killing spree.

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Image via IFC Films

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Josh Ruben’s adaptation takes this concept and turns it into a modern-day werewolf film. Set in the small town of Beaverfield, residents are trapped in a local inn by a snowstorm and must figure out who is the werewolf that keeps killing people. Werewolves Within stars Sam Richardson, Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows), Milana Vayntrub, Michaela WatkinsCatherine Curtin, Cheyenne Jackson, George Basil and Sarah Burns.

The trailer sets the scene nicely, emphasizing that small towns thrive on community and being neighborly to one another — which will be important once the second-guessing and paranoia of the werewolf game sets in. Luckily, Werewolves Within is indeed rated R, so we can be sure there is a bunch of fun violence and gore, as evidenced by some throwing axes and lots of guns. But the “Mafia” or “Werewolf” concept implies that people are the most dangerous aspect of the game, as trust and fear don’t usually go hand-in-hand.

In an official statement, Ruben expanded on how his own childhood informed the project:

“I grew up near the same small town where we shot Werewolves Within. As a kid, I’d freak myself out, making up monster stories, running through the woods, pretending I was Chief Brody, fighting creatures in the brush (I LOVED Jaws — hell, I loved horror). That hometown experience, where neighbors knew your business (whether you liked it or not) is so much of what makes Werewolves so personal. But, as much as I love horror movies, nothing scares me more than people. And as much as this movie is an homage to my love for Hot Fuzz, the Coen Brothers, and Arachnophobia, it’s also about the monster in all of us.”

Werewolves Within hits theaters on June 25 and on-demand on July 2. Check out the trailer and poster art below.

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