Pascal Laugier doesn't make movies often, and when he does, they leave a mark. The man behind Martyrs and Incident in a Ghostland is finally back, and this time he's sinking his teeth into vampire lore. The new film is called Nocturnal, and on paper it's exactly the kind of nasty, unusual swing you'd want from him.
What 'Nocturnal' Is About
Set in 1943, the story follows a group of refugees fleeing Vichy France who attempt a desperate crossing of the Channel. They don't make it where they're headed. Instead they wash up stranded on a supposedly deserted island, and that island turns out to be home to an undying supernatural evil. One by one, the curse of undeath takes the fugitives, until a single woman is left alive and still human. She has to figure out how to survive on the edges of the strange, violent, perverse community her former friends have become. It's a vampire premise, sure, but the WWII-refugee framing gives it a hook you haven't seen a hundred times already.
The Team Behind It
The screenplay comes from David Birke, who wrote Paul Verhoeven's Elle and Benedetta along with Slender Man. Pairing Birke's writing with Laugier's directing is a strong combination, and it's not their first time around either. Producer Saïd Ben Saïd, a frequent Verhoeven collaborator, is on board to bring it to the screen. That's a lot of serious genre pedigree pointed at one vampire picture.
A Female-Led Vampire Story
The thing that stands out most is the structure. This isn't an ensemble that fights back together. It's a story that narrows down to one survivor, a woman, and then keeps going past the point most movies would end. Watching the lone human left standing try to exist among the undead, surrounded by people she used to know, is the meat of it. That survival-at-the-margins angle is where Laugier tends to do his best, ugliest work.
What We Know So Far
The team has been aiming to shoot in Latvia, with no cast announced yet and no release date locked. Given Laugier's track record, this is one worth keeping on the radar. He doesn't show up with something every year, so when he does, it earns a look. We'll be tracking casting and a first-look as they come.