Noomi Rapace stars in trailer for folklore body horror Lamb

The prestige horror distributor A24 has snagged the rights to Lamb, an Icelandic horror pic starring Noomi Rapace, which has served up its first trailer. The movie is to debut at this year's Cannes Film Festival, where it will appear in the Un Certain Regard competition, a portion of the event dedicated to movies which present non-traditional stories.

By the looks of this first teaser, Lamb fits the bill. Described as a "dark and atmospheric folktale," Lamb follows Icelandic sheep farmers, María (Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason), who one day discover a hybrid newborn in their barn and decide to raise it as their own offspring, despite the somewhat, ahem, challenging setback this may present.

Eerie shots of the couple tending their farm, raising their sheep, are interspersed with moments of them cradling their newest addition while the music swells. We aren't shown the horrors which await them, but to be honest, keeping this mystery under wraps until the film's release might be worth the wait. After all, they're raising a half-human, half-sheep child. Might be a nice surprise to witness it for the first time in the movie.

Comparisons to the likes of Robert Eggers' The Witch are inevitable, due to its remote, isolated setting and how damn sinister everything is. Interestingly, Lamb is the feature-length debut of filmmaker Valdimar Jóhannsson who co-wrote the script with Icelandic novelist Sjon. The Oscar-nominated writer is also working with Eggers' on his upcoming script for The Northmen.

A24 titles encompass a broad spectrum of indies, and their horror titles hew to the more unusual, less-showy end of the spectrum. Their roster includes the likes of Ari Aster's Hereditary and Midsommar, The Blackcoat's Daughter, The Hole in the Ground, The Lodge, and more recently, Saint Maud. Here's hoping we can add Lamb to the list of utterly frightening A24 pics very soon, just as long as the damn dog doesn't die.

Currently, Lamb has no UK or US release date but expect that to change very soon with this latest distribution deal and after its festival debut on July 13, 2021. Until then get your spooky fill with our rundown of the upcoming horror movies you need to check out.