If you like your dystopian sci-fi with a healthy dose of body horror, this new David Cronenberg pic is for you. Neon just released a first teaser for Crimes of the Future.

Take a peek at the unsettling first look below.

Set in a not-too-distant future, Crimes of the Future drops us in a world where people are undergoing mass transformations and mutations to adapt to their environment. 

We may not understand the specifics of those transformations just yet. But this teaser makes it clear the process won’t be simple (and probably will be grotesque). The stomach tubes in particular remind me of The Matrix.

Here’s the official synopsis for the film from Neon:

In a not-so-distant future, humankind is learning to adapt to its synthetic surroundings. Their biological makeup changed, many humans have adapted to life with “Accelerated Evolution Syndrome” thanks partly to specialized equipment that aids in everything from eating to sleeping. 

Beloved performance artist Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen) sleeps in a womb-like bed suspended in mid-air. The OrchidBed comes complete with software to anticipate, and adjust his every bodily need. The machine even detects the growth of new organs, which Saul’s creative partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux) can observe and tattoo in his personal operating theatre. Together, Saul and Caprice have turned the discovery and removal of these new body organs into performance art, via sold-out voyeuristic surgical shows using a sarcophagus-like machine where the surgeries take place.

These human evolutionary changes do not receive universal positivity. Before long, a new secret government entity is established – the National Organ Registry, led by bureaucrats Wippet and Timlin (Kristen Stewart) – to discreetly track new organ growths, with particular enthusiasm for Saul’s artistic anomalies.

With increased scrutiny on the syndrome and therefore his art, Saul is forced to consider what would be his most shocking performance of all.

Crimes of the Future poster

Crimes of the Future shares a title with a 1970 flick also by Cronenberg. However, this feature isn’t intended as a remake.

Crimes of the Future plans to premiere at Cannes Film Festival in May. It will debut as a wide release a month later in June.

Until then, check back to THS for more updates.

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