We have a trailer for the German-language horror film The Devil’s Bath, and it lives up to the descriptors “unsettling,” “punishingly grim,” and “pitilessly bleak” that critics have used to describe the feature. (Critics, who, I might add, have given the movie a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes.)
Here’s the film’s brief synopsis:
18th century Austria. Villages surrounded by deep forests. A woman is sentenced to death after killing a baby. Agnes is marrying her loved one and candidly prepares herself for a spouse life. Soon after, her head and heart start to feel heavy. Day after day, she is increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts. Maybe not just thoughts….
The title of the film, The Devil’s Bath, is another word for depression, and the movie appears to delve into Agnes’ struggle with the disease in an unflinching way. And while the story has a folk horror spin, reviews also suggest that the biggest horrors of all are human in nature.
The movie was co-written and co-directed by Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, horror alums whose previous credits include 2014’s Good Night Mommy (which had an English remake in 2022) and 2019’s The Lodge. It stars Anja Plaschg as Agnes, as well as actors Maria Hofstätter and David Scheid.
The Devil’s Bath premieres on Shudder on June 28, 2024.
Check out the trailer below.