Elbert Van Strien’s Creepy Kid Thriller Gets New Trailer

Who doesn’t love a horror story about a creepy kid? The Omen, The Bad Seed, Village of the Damned even The Ring if you wanted to count creepy ghost kids. In November, audiences will be getting a new title to add to that list in the form of Marionette. Watch the trailer below!

From filmmaker Elbert van Strien, the film follows child psychologist Marianne Winter, who is brought on to help a disturbed ten-year-old boy named Manny. Manny seems to have a knack for drawing, especially drawings of events he claims to have happened because of him. Marianne, at first, waves it off until Manny begins to predict eerily correct details about her life. The further Marianne investigates, the more Manny draws, until eventually, things spiral out of control. The film seems to draw heavily into the thriller genre, making the audience unsure if actual supernatural forces are at play or if it’s all in the head of Marianne.

Marionette started off as a short film De Marionettenwereld, released in 1993. Director Elbert van Strien, who directed the short, decided to revisit the concept and expand upon it into a full-length feature film. Initially, Matt Damon had expressed interest in starring in the film, but as he’s wont to lose roles, instead the lead role ended up going to Thekla Reuten, who is best known for her role as Jillian in the Warrior Nun television series. When asked about the changes to the lead character, Reuten had this to say to NU.nl.

“The script is substantively strong and timeless, even now it is still very relevant. Nothing has changed in the role, only a ‘she’ has been made of it. So it is not a character with stereotypes, and I felt that when I read it. Marianne is a no-nonsense woman without fuss.”

Elbert van Strien’s past directing credits include Two Eyes Staring, the short Wereld van stillstand, and the TV movie Uncle Hank. Alongside Strien, Ben Hopkins is also credited as a writer, whose past credits include Lost in Karastan, Napoli: City of the Damned, and The Market: A Tale of Trade. Elijah Wolf, who plays Manny, has previously worked on the short film Wild Flower. Other names in the cast are Peter Mullan, Emun Elliott, Sam Hazeldine, Bill Paterson, Rebecca Font and Dawn Steele.

Marionette was filmed in Aberdeen Scotland. The production companies credited are Accento Films, Black Camel Pictures and BosBros. S&R Films will be handling the film’s distribution. The film was initially set to screen at the Cannes Film Festival in 2020 but was canceled due to the COVID-19 outbreak and pandemic. It has since made its debut in movie theaters in the Netherlands in October 2020 and later in South Korea on February 17th, 2021. The film is set for digital release on November 3rd through streaming platforms such as Amazon, Vimeo and On-Demand Cable. On December 3rd, Marionette’s release will be expanded to include the platforms iTunes, Vudu/Fandango, and Google Play.

You can view the original article HERE.