Can a serial killer also be a good dad? That seems to be the question at the heart of Trap based on the new trailer for one of our most anticipated horror movies of the year, the latest thriller from M. Night Shyamalan.
Josh Hartnett stars as a seemingly nice and normal dad who takes his young daughter, Jody (Ariel Donoghue), to see pop star Lady Raven—played by Shyamalan’s actual daughter, Saleka Shyamalan—in concert. The trailer plays like a pleasant credit card commercial until Hartnett discovers why there are so many cops at the concert:
Shyamalan is known for his third-act twists and seems to be subverting those expectations here by laying it all out in the trailer: the cops received a tip that a local serial killer known as The Butcher is attending Lady Raven’s concert (this I have questions about), so they turned the arena into a trap. And it just so happens that the serial killer is the nice dad played by Hartnett. I love this idea—what if you found out your dad was actually a serial killer? Not exactly a one-to-one comparison to Shyamalan’s career, but it’s fun to think about him considering himself this way.
It’s a big dad-and-daughter year for Shyamalan, who also produced The Watchers, the feature directorial debut of his other daughter, Ishana Shyamalan. That film hits theaters on June 14, just two months ahead of Trap, which arrives on August 9. The film also stars Hayley Mills, Alison Pill, and Marnie McPhail.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
