If meeting your partner’s parents gives you hives, Dennis Iliadis’ new psychological thriller Buzzheart is about to make you feel a whole lot better about your own in-laws.
The genre-bending film—from the director behind The Last House on the Left and a frequent collaborator of horror royalty Wes Craven and Jason Blum—officially drops on Digital and On Demand today, May 19, via Dark Star Pictures. To celebrate the release, a brand-new, nerve-shredding trailer has just premiered.
Meet the Parents (From Hell)
Set against the backdrop of 1990s Athens, the film follows Argyris, a shy 19-year-old who somehow lands a date with Mary, a beautiful and enigmatic woman who is entirely out of his league. When she invites him to her family’s secluded country estate for the weekend, Argyris thinks he’s in for a romantic getaway.
He is dead wrong.
Claiming they are just “protecting their fragile daughter,” Mary’s parents subject the poor kid to a gauntlet of increasingly bizarre, brutal, and twisted psychological tests to prove his worth. What follows is a deeply dysfunctional game of survival in which trust is nonexistent and the red flags are the size of billboards.
From the Festival Circuit to Your Living Room
Buzzheart has already been making waves internationally, turning heads in the Main Competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and creeping out audiences at the MotelX Lisbon International Horror Film Festival.
The film features a stellar Greek cast, including a powerfully sinister performance by Evelina Papoulia (Two Strangers and Me), as well as Giorgos Liantos, Konstantina Messini, and Claudio Kaya.
What to Expect
Driven by atmospheric cinematography and a score that will give you goosebumps, Buzzheart is a slow-burning exploration of love, manipulation, and extreme control. If you’re ready for a movie that defies genre and will make you think twice about ever visiting a significant other’s childhood home, Buzzheart is available to stream right now on Prime Video.
