IFC Films’ genre offshoot IFC Midnight has announced the official trailer and release date for their World War II thriller Burial. Starring Charlotte Vega and Tom Felton, the fictional wartime period piece takes place near the end of the war, when a group of soldiers must risk everything to keep the truth from ending up in the hands of German “Werewolf” partisans.
In the trailer, a small band of Russian soldiers are tasked with returning Adolf Hitler’s remains to Stalin in Russia. Foregoing the speed and convenience of a plane, intelligence officer Brana Vasilyeva (Vega) is told that accomplishing this feat as quietly as possible is of utmost importance, lest the truth of what’s transpired be buried forever. The journey from Berlin to Russia proves perilous as the soldiers trudge through mud and thick forests, burying Hitler’s remains each evening in case their troop is attacked and killed in the night. The mission to deliver the body takes precedence over their own lives when they begin to get picked off one at a time in a series of attacks by the German “Werewolf” resistance. The clock ticking in the background of the trailer heightens the tension as the soldiers begin to question their sanity, paranoia setting is as they are steadily stalked and hunted.
The idea for Burial was born from British writer and director Ben Parker‘s fascination with what he called the contentious history behind Stalin’s call for secrecy. After the Red Army’s discovery of Hitler’s burnt remains, the dictator commanded that the information be kept confidential, fearful that if this came to light Allies would rescind their support. Parker then discovered the German Werewolf propaganda, groups of guerilla fighters steeped in Germanic lore in order to instill terror in their opposition. Thus, the fictional plot for Burial was born from the pages of history, blurring the lines between a historical thriller and horror.
Burial is Parker’s sophomore feature film, after his debut in 2016 with The Chamber, starring Johannes Kuhnke and Charlotte Salt. The Chamber is a horror thriller in a similar vein as Burial, set off the coast of North Korea. A team of Special Ops are on a secret recovery mission when they become trapped in their submarine. Parker also wrote and executive produced the horror Girl on the Third Floor, and is in development on a number of television projects.
Alongside Vega and Felton, Burial features Harriet Walker, Kristjan Üksküla, Barry Ward, Dan Skinner, Niall Murphy, Bill Milner, Tambet Tuisk, Hendrik Toompere, David Alexander, Sten Karpov and Esther Kuntu.
Burial will open in theaters and be available for VOD on September 2. Check out the brand-new trailer below: