Queen of Earth Trailer Goes Old-School Exploitation

While Alex Ross Perry’s Queen of Earth refrains from spilling over into outright horror, its style is very much owed to a lineage of psychotic women films and mental break movies like Persona, Images and Symptoms. It’s a film with balance of knowing pastiche and truly stunning lead turns, and IFC has slyly appropriated another style for its trailer: exploitation. With a heavy, gravelly voice-over (only missing the constant repeating of the title) teasing the deep darkness of this psychodrama, Queen of Earth has one of the best new previews out; one peddling the performances of Elisabeth Moss and Katherine Waterston as its drama, fright and spectacle. 

In Queen of Earth, Moss stars as “Catherine, a woman careening towards emotional collapse after a one-two punch of heartbreaking events. Seeking peace and solitude, she heads to the secluded lakehouse of her best friend, Virginia (Inherent Vice’s Katherine Waterston). But their quiet country retreat becomes a journey into steadily mounting hysteria as past and present collide and the love-hate relationship between the two women threatens to tear them apart.”

Queen of Earth is coming to theaters and VOD this August 26th. It’s a must-see, a film committed to and aware of its aesthetic, but truly enveloping in its actual story, as well.