People who are used to being exposed to glory and fame, and their bodies are their main working tool, are the ones who take worse this natural process that is getting old. In the horror thriller movie She Will (2021), an aging film star retreats to the Scottish countryside with her nurse to recover from surgery. While there, mysterious forces of revenge emerge from the land where witches were burned.
The film explores the story of Veronica Ghent who after a double mastectomy, goes to a healing retreat in rural Scotland with her young nurse Desi. She discovers that the process of such surgery opens up questions about her very existence, leading her to start to question and confront past traumas. The two develop an unlikely bond as mysterious forces give Veronica the power to enact revenge within her dreams.
She Will (2021) is the debut feature film of writer and director Charlotte Colbert after a few short films. Kitty Percy has been co-writer of the screenplay.
The main cast is formed by some popular faces including Alice Krige, the Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) who has also been part of Sleepwalkers (1992), and Gretel & Hansel (2020), the always-interesting Malcolm McDowell known for hundreds of titles outstanding A Clockwork Orange (1971), Class of 1999 (1990), and Halloween (2007), Rupert Everett who despite being better known for his roles in romantic comedies he will always be related to the horror-comedy Dellamorte Dellamore (1994), and Olwen Fouéré who lately is getting big recognition from her appearances in Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022), The Northman (2022), and Mandy (2018). Amy Manson, Daniel Lapaine, Jonathan Aris, John McCrea, Jonathan Aris, Kenneth Collard, Joanna Bacon, and Kota Eberhardt complete the main cast.
The movie had its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival on August 5, 2021, where it won the award for Best First Feature. After that, it had extensive festival runs where it achieved some awards nominations including Fantastic Fest, Sitges Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Gerardmer International Fantastic Film Festival, Luxembourg City Film Festival, Fantasy Filmfest, Lyon Festival Hallucinations Collectives, and Panic Fest.
The story of She Will (2021) has themes director Charlotte Colbert says she has always been interested in within her practice and within her life. “How trauma blurs one’s experience of reality and time, how nature holds so much solace, how everyone carries within them the muscle memory of those who came before and those who will come after, how the infinitely small, like a cell, contains the same patterns as the universe. How meaning and perspective and reality and time are all such fragile constructs that can break at any time. The genre of psychological horror seems to allow more artistic freedom than drama. It also at its heart fittingly captures those existential feelings“.
Star Malcolm McDowell stated that “the visuals are extraordinary, original and unique. I came off the shoot really high on it. I’m really happy I did it. And I don’t say that often. I really don’t. But this time I can“.
She Will (2021) is being presented by producer Dario Argento, and will be distributed by IFC Midnight and Shudder. It will have a theatrical release as well as digital on July 15, 2022.
Watch here the official trailer for She Will (2021).
