Crimson Peak’s Mia Wasikowska and future A-lister Christopher Abbott star in a slick and twisted giallo-inspired love story, from the minds behind cult classic shockers Audition and Afterschool, and the Netflix hit The Sinner.

Cast
Christopher Abbott (First Man, Catch-22)
Mia Wasikowska (Crimson Peak, Alice In Wonderland)
Laia Costa (Victoria, Life Itself)

Writer-Director
Nicolas Pesce (forthcoming Grudge remake)

Based on the novel by
Ryû Murakami (Audition, Tokyo Decadence)

Producers
Antonio Campos (The Sinner, Christine)
Sean Durkin (Afterschool, Martha Marcy May Marlene)

A new father decides to ease his parental stress by killing an anonymous prostitute. He books into a hotel and awaits his victim, but when the women he’s hired says she is running late, the flaky escort he chooses instead might have other ideas for the ice pick he has brought along to dispatch her with.

This sly and stylish urban psycho-thriller, based on the novel by the Japanese horror scribe Ryû Murakami (whose book Audition was so memorably adapted for the screen in 1999), PIERCING is a demented and dazzling slice of horror cinema that dazzled audiences at this year’s prestigious London FrightFest.

PIERCING showcases brilliant lead performances from soon-to-be-huge star Christopher Abbott (currently taking the lead role in George Clooney’s adaptation of Catch-22), Crimson Peak’s Mia Wasikowska, and Laia Costa, the stunning star of the German one-shot hit Victoria.

Produced by indie heavyweights Antonio Campos (Netflix’s The Sinner) and Sean Durkin (Afterschool, Martha Marcy May Marlene), this is a surreal, unique and unforgettable film experience from writer-director to watch Nicolas Pesce (who is helming the remake of Japanese horror hit Grudge).

Scored using music from legendary Italians composers Ennio Morricone and Claudio Simonetti (utilising the latter’s music from Argento’s Tenebre), and photographed with extraordinary panache in the lavish, atmospheric style of Italian horror cinema, this all adds up to an extraordinary blend of giallo, J-horror and Brian De Palma that delights and disorientates in equal measure. It doesn’t so much wrong foot the audience as plunge an icepick into its expectations.

“Genuinely surprising and unsettling” Little White Lies

“Darkly funny and consistently unsettling” ★★★★ The Skinny

“A cinematic assault” ★★★★★ The People’s Movies

“This might be the best role Wasikowska’s had in years” Variety

Official Selection Sundance Film Festival 2018

Official Selection Edinburgh International Film Festival 2018

Official Selection FrightFest London 2018