The Shrouds trailer: David Cronenberg film is set for an April release

David Cronenberg has said that his new film The Shrouds – which has been making the festival rounds lately (you can read what JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray thought of it HERE) – was originally intended to be a Netflix TV series, but the streamer dropped it after paying him to write the pilot episode. So a feature film it is, and Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all U.S. distribution rights to the film, with their plan being to give it a theatrical release next month. The Shrouds will be reaching theatres in New York and Los Angeles on April 18th, then will expand nationwide on April 25th. With those dates right around the corner, a trailer has dropped online and can be seen in the embed above.

In The Shrouds, Vincent Cassel, who previously worked with Cronenberg on Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method, takes on the role of Karsh, “an innovative businessman and grieving widower, who builds a novel device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud. This burial tool installed at his own state-of-the-art though controversial cemetery allows him and his clients to watch their specific departed loved one decompose in real time. Karsh’s revolutionary business is on the verge of breaking into the international mainstream when several graves within his cemetery are vandalized and nearly destroyed, including that of his wife. While he struggles to uncover a clear motive for the attack, the mystery of who wrought this havoc, and why, drive him to reevaluate his business, marriage and fidelity to his late wife’s memory, as well as push him to new beginnings.”

Diane Kruger (National Treasure, Inglorious Basterds, In the Fade), Guy Pearce (Memento, The Hurt Locker), Sandrine Holt (Homeland, House of Cards), Al Sapienza (The Sopranos, Reacher), Elizabeth Saunders (From, Mary Kills People), and Jennifer Dale (Coroner, Into Invisible Light) are also in the cast.

The Shrouds was produced by Saïd Ben Saïd, Martin Katz and Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent. It’s an SBS, Prospero Pictures & Saint Laurent Productions Film, with the participation of Telefilm Canada, Eurimages, Ontario Creates in association with Sphere Films, Crave & CBC Films with the support of Canal +, OCS & the Centre National du Cinema et de L’image Animée.

Sideshow/Janus provided the following statement: “Building on a long history with David Cronenberg that has included releases of Videodrome, Scanners, The Brood, Crash, Dead Ringers, and Naked Lunch, Janus Films and Criterion are very proud to be working with Sideshow and Saïd Ben Saïd, Martin Katz and Anthony Vaccarello to premiere The Shrouds, a major new work by the Canadian master in the United States. Cronenberg is at his wittiest, most personal and romantic in this thought-provoking thriller with knockout performances from Vincent Cassel and Diane Kruger.“

What did you think of the trailer for The Shrouds? Will you be catching this movie on the big screen next month? Let us know by leaving a comment below.