Spiderhead Trailer: Chris Hemsworth And Miles Teller Star In The Netflix Thriller
There's a new smug master manipulator in town, played by none other than Chris Hemsworth. When I first saw Hemsworth as a villain in "Bad Times at the El Royale," I ended up appreciating him more as an actor, given his delicious performance as Billy the cult leader, which effectively drove the second half of the film. Now Hemsworth is back as the anti-hero in the upcoming Netflix psychological thriller, "Spiderhead," whose trailer (which is pure chaos) you can watch below. Hemsworth plays Steve Abnesti, a visionary scientist responsible for founding a posh penitentiary in which inmates are rehabilitated with the aid of experimental therapy sessions and mind-altering drugs.
Check out the trippy, and at some points, darkly humorous trailer for "Spiderhead" below.
A psychedelic playground
The upcoming Netflix film is based on George Saunders' "Escape from Spiderhead," a short story that assimilates various themes to wacky effect, while introducing elements of horror to elevate the already-interesting premise. Saunders' story is a genuinely captivating read, and the fact that it is being adapted into a Netflix thriller is good news, as it will allow the layered subject matter to breathe while letting the central characters express their motivations in a nuanced manner.
"Spiderhead" revolves around two inmates, played by Miles Teller and Jurnee Smollett, who are checked into Abnesti's penitentiary, wherein they accept to be experimented on in exchange for reduced sentences. However, things turn extremely shady and nasty when Abnesti injects their systems with mind-altering drugs used to manipulate the subjects to trigger specific results. Although none of the inmates are forced to undergo these procedures, Abnesti has too much control over their minds, as he is truly, and terrifyingly, the only one in charge.
The project has been helmed by "Top Gun: Maverick" and "TRON: Legacy" director Joseph Kosinski, while the adapted script has been penned by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Producers for "Spiderhead" include Eric Newman for Screen Arcade, alongside Hemsworth, Oren Katzeff, Geneva Wasserman, Tommy Harper, and Jeremy Steckler, among others.
Check out the film's official synopsis:
"Two inmates (Miles Teller & Jurnee Smollett) form a connection while grappling with their pasts in a state-of-the-art penitentiary run by a brilliant visionary (Chris Hemsworth) who experiments on his subjects with mind-altering drugs.
A prisoner in a state-of-the-art penitentiary begins to question the purpose of the emotion-controlling drugs he's testing for a pharmaceutical genius."
"Spiderhead" is set to release on June 17, 2022, on Netflix.