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THE FRONT ROOM Trailer 2 (2024) Brandy Norwood

THE FRONT ROOM Trailer 2 (NEW, 2024) Brandy Norwood, Thriller Movie
© 2024 - A24
"She's taking over the house!" This looks nuts! A24 has revealed a second trailer for a horror thriller titled The Front Room, marking the feature directorial debut of the Eggers Brothers - Max & Sam. They're also brothers of the filmmaker Robert Eggers (of The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman) and worked with him on a few of those films, too. This new original horror film in ready to land theaters early in September. The Front Room is about a young, newly pregnant couple who must suddenly take in an ailing, estranged stepmother. A24 describes it as: the incomparable Brandy returns to horror in a legendary face-off against Kathryn Hunter, the wickedest mother-in-law of them all. Starring singer / actress Brandy Norwood as Belinda, with Andrew Burnap, Neal Huff, and Kathryn Hunter. This still looks a lot like Get Out, though I'm hoping that Brandy fights back and takes her down. Plenty of crazy WTF shots in this new trailer! Enjoy.

Here's the second official trialer for the Eggers Brothers' film The Front Room, from A24's YouTube:

The Front Room Poster

You can rewatch the first trailer for the Eggers' The Front Room right here, to view the first look again.

Everything goes to hell for newly-pregnant Belinda (singer / songwriter / actress Brandy Norwood) after her mother-in-law (Kathryn Hunter) moves in. As the diabolical guest tries to get her claws on the child, Belinda must draw the line somewhere... The Front Room is both written and directed by up-and-coming American filmmakers Max Eggers (who also co-wrote The Lighthouse) & Sam Eggers, also known as the Eggers Brothers (and brothers of the other filmmaker Robert Eggers), making their feature directorial debut after other production work previously. Produced by Babak Anvari, Lucan Toh, David Hinojosa, Julia Oh. This hasn't premiered at any film festivals yet or elsewhere, as far as we know. A24 will release the Eggers Brothers' The Front Room film in theaters starting on September 6th, 2024 coming up. Want to watch?
Brandy Norwood has a tougher mother-in-law situation than most expectant parents in the first trailer for A24‘s psychological horror movie The Front Room.

The feature from directors Max Eggers and Sam Eggers is set to hit theaters Sept. 6. Andrew Burnap, Neal Huff and Kathryn Hunter also star in the film that focuses on a couple with a baby on the way whose lives change dramatically after they allow the husband’s stepmother (Hunter) to stay in their home.

“This is my house,” Norwood says defiantly in the trailer. She quips, “Being cooped up with a newborn and a mother-in-law can drive anyone crazy.”

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At one point in the trailer, Burnap explains, “She thinks that the Holy Spirit possesses her and gives her power.”

Later, Burnap tells Norwood, “She says that you hit her.” This leads Norwood to exclaim, “She wants you to think it was me.”

Sam Eggers and Max Eggers, who are brothers of filmmaker Robert Eggers (The Northman), wrote and directed The Front Room, which is based on the short story of the same name from author Susan Hill.

Max Eggers co-wrote Robert Eggers’ 2019 film The Lighthouse. Sam Eggers served as a production assistant on Robert Eggers’ 2015 movie The Witch and later worked as a writer and editor on the documentary feature Olympia about actress Olympia Dukakis.

Norwood, who has horror experience from her role in the 1998 sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, recently appeared opposite Heather Graham in the Netflix holiday movie Best. Christmas. Ever! and appears in the forthcoming Disney Channel film Descendants: The Rise of Red.
Witch,” “Nosferatu”) aren’t the only game in town. At least not the only Eggers game in town. Eggers may have “Nosferatu” coming as a major release in December, but his brothers Max Eggers and Sam Eggers—who have worked on some of his previous films—have their own movie coming out this fall titled, “The Front Room.”

Featuring Brandy Norwood, Andrew Burnap, Neal Huff, and Kathryn Hunter, “The Front Room” is a horror about motherhood and, essentially, two mothers battling for control of a newborn child.

READ MORE: The 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2024

Here’s the official synopsis:

Everything goes to hell for newly-pregnant Belinda (Brandy) after her mother-in-law (Kathryn Hunter) moves in. As the diabolical guest tries to get her claws on the child, Belinda must draw the line somewhere…

Based on Susan Hill’s short story and produced by Lucan Toh, Babak Anvari, David Hinojosa, and Julia Oh, the Eggers Brothers will show their filmmaking mettle next month. “The Front Room” opens nationwide on September 6, 2024, via A24.
Brandy (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) returns to horror in the upcoming A24 horror movie The Front Room, and the brand new second trailer has arrived this week.

A24 will release The Front Room in theaters September 6, 2024. The upcoming film is rated “R” for “language, some violent/disturbing content, brief sexuality and nudity.”

Watch the official trailer for A24’s social horror movie The Front Room below.

All hell moves in this coming Halloween season…

What’s particularly interesting about the psychological horror movie is that it’s directed by Max and Sam Eggers, the brothers of Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Northman)!

This will be the debut feature for the Eggers Brothers, in fact. Variety had recently reported, “They adapted the screenplay from Susan Hill’s short story of the same name.”

The film “follows a young, newly pregnant couple forced to take in an ailing stepmother who has long been estranged from the family.”

Olivier Award-winning actress Kathryn Hunter (The Tragedy of Macbeth), Tony Award-winning actor Andrew Burnap (Snow White), and Neal Huff (Spotlight) will also star.

Max co-wrote The Lighthouse, and Sam Eggers was a production assistant on The Witch.

As for Robert Eggers’ next movie, Nosferatu arrives in theaters this Christmas.
Brandy stars in a new A24 movie called "The Front Room" — her first horror film in years.
BI spoke to "The Front Room" writer-directors Max and Sam Eggers.
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"The Front Room" marks Brandy's big return to the horror genre, over 25 years after starring in "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer."

The singer-actor stars as Belinda, a pregnant woman still reeling from the loss of her first child, Wallace, in a stillbirth when her husband's estranged, evangelical, and deeply evil stepmother Solange (Kathryn Hunter) maneuvers her way into their home after the death of Norman's father.

Solange promises to leave her son Norman (Andrew Burnap) and Belinda all of her money after she dies. The catch? They need to take care for her in — what she claims are — her final days.

The young couple, who are struggling financially, begrudgingly accepts the offer. But very quickly come to regret it. The extremely religious (and racist) Solange begins to take over their home and their lives, even laying claim to their unborn daughter.

Warning: Spoilers ahead for the ending of "The Front Room."

After plenty of tension, including many, many scenes of a pregnant and newly-postpartum Belinda being forced to clean up after an incontinent Solange (and one extremely horrifying hallucination of Solange breastfeeding the adult Norman), Belinda finally reaches her breaking point.

When Norman confronts Belinda over a bite mark on their newborn daughter Laurie's arm, Belinda tells him that it must have been Solange who bit the baby. She demands that Norman make her leave their home.

Solange doesn't take it well, spitting in Norman's face when he tells her she must go, and spends the rest of that night yelling, "Why can't I die?" Ironically, in the morning, right after Belinda finally manages to successfully nurse Laurie (who'd been struggling to latch), she goes downstairs to Solange's bedroom to find the menace dead in her bed.

Initially, it appears that Solange died of natural causes, an expected progression of her decline throughout the movie. After her death, Norman and Belinda restart their lives in a new home, and Belinda, now pregnant with twins, happily drives to a new job interview.

The big twist comes in the final seconds of the film when Belinda's flashback during her job interview appears to reveal that she actually smothered Solange to death to put an end to the torment.

In an interview with Sam and Max Eggers, the brothers who wrote and directed the film, we break down the movie's most shocking moments, how Brandy was cast, and why that final twist might not be exactly what you think it is.

Andrew Burnap, Brandy Norwood, and Kathryn Hunter in "The Front Room"
Andrew Burnap, Brandy Norwood, and Kathryn Hunter in "The Front Room." Jon Pack/A24
"The Front Room" is based on a short story by Susan Hill from her 2016 book, "The Travelling Bag and Other Ghostly Stories." How did you guys land on adapting this story for your first feature film?

Max: It was given to me by our producers, and then I shared it with Sam once I had read it. We were so blessed to get it because we'd just been through a similar experience of taking care of our grandfather; seeing the decline. So we knew exactly how to adapt it.

Sam: I don't know if you've ever taken care of somebody in decline, but when you open a door, you never know what you're going to find. It all came from our personal experience taking care of our grandfather and trying to reflect that onto the screen.

The short story is a really terrifying piece, but I think we wanted to get a little more outrageous.

That's interesting because you took the bones of that story and added so many other layers to it. Describe the process of tweaking the source material to mesh with your personal experience.

Sam: Trying to make it personal begat everything in a way. Because, in the short story, it's set in England, the Irwins are religious, and Solange is not. But Max and I are not religious, and we didn't grow up that way, so we updated it to a modern setting, bringing it to the US and flipping it to make Solange the religious one, a southern Christian conservative.

Max: We're always careful to say, of course, this is not representative of all of the elderly or of what happens when you're dying. Solange is so unique, and…we're inspired by our grandfather. He was nothing like her. He was a southern gentleman, but he had isms, and he had an accent, and he was charming even though he became this baby I guess, in some ways, we had to take care of. And it was surreal, and it was sometimes hilarious.

Speaking of hilarious, the tone of the movie was surprisingly humorous. What were your inspirations for the campy elements?

Max: "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" was a big inspiration for us. Because when you watch that film, it's bizarre. …It is a thriller, but it's also really funny, surprisingly, and it's dealing with serious subjects just as we are, but it's shining a unique light onto that and trying to confront you with difficult subjects.

Brandy Norwood in "The Front Room"
Brandy in "The Front Room." Jon Pack/A24
The original short story does not include a racial element. Was Belinda always a Black woman in the story as you envisioned it?

Sam: As we envisioned it, yes. This equation of the wicked mother and the good mother is a time immemorial, millennia age-old tale. But…if you're going to do something close to "Baby Jane," but also "Rosemary's Baby," if you're going to do that again, it's got to be something relevant.

From an archetypal standpoint, I think Solange represents the wickedest of wicked stepmothers. That was our vision for her, and making her a southern, Christian, conservative white woman representing the patriarchal part of our society, well, what is the opposite of that? Who is our Cinderella?

And I think that's why it was important to have it be a woman of color, a Black woman, and having the audience relating to her against this force that we kind of have to confront and smother, as it were.

How did you find each member of your cast?

Max: Well, the first person cast was Kathryn. It was challenging to find somebody willing to do all that. For Belinda, it was difficult to find somebody like it was for Solange.

We were looking for somebody who's willing to go through it all with Solange. Finding that Cinderella that you could immediately believe and buy into and root for —Brandy got it immediately though. She brought so much personal connection to it and was really wanting to challenge herself and do all of this.

You said it was hard to cast these roles. Why's that?

Max: It wasn't so much the actors or anything like that. It was just people are like, "You want my client to do what? You want my client to be remembered for farting on camera?" It's a difficult subject matter, putting it one way. And then I think it's just finding somebody like Kathryn who was willing, who wants to explore the dark side of stuff and is OK with being covered in stuff and actually saying, "More, please. Put more on."

Sam: I remember when we were rehearsing, she pulled us aside, and she was like, "I think there should be more poo."

Kathryn Hunter in "The Front Room"
Kathryn Hunter in "The Front Room." Jon Pack/A24
How much of Solange's very particular physicality was in the script versus what Kathryn brought to the performance?

Sam: There was stuff in the script that was specific, but of course, I think Kathryn brought her own magic to it. I think the type of canes that she used was something that she was researching, trying to figure out what the right thing was. The way her feet moved was all her. I mean, she practiced for months trying to get it right.

Max: There's a scene where Solange is scurrying across the hall with a pillow, and there's so much footage, I would say five or six or seven takes of Kathryn doing these completely improvised, incredible pieces of physical comedy with that pillow.

One of the most disturbing scenes is Belinda's hallucination of Solange breastfeeding Norman. What was the vibe like on set filming that moment?

Max: I have to say, the thing I feel so bad about with that scene was Andrew's back. Because he had to be in a certain position for so long, and he was like, after I would say however many takes, he was like, "Guys, this has got to be it because my back…"

Sam: And the stuff that was the milk actually was oatmeal or something. And by the end of it, he was like, "I'm going to throw up. This smells so bad," but everybody was committed, including Andrew.

It's left up in the air whether Solange actually is in touch with some otherworldly power, with hints like Belinda's C-section scar rapidly healing and Solange somehow knowing Wallace's name. Was that purposefully ambiguous?

Max: Absolutely. Also Belinda is in every single scene, and it's all from her perspective, and we are very intentional about how reliable is she as a narrator?

We were very inspired by many films, but one especially is "The Innocents" from the 1960s, starring Deborah Kerr. It is one of the greatest ghost stories ever, but it is a masterclass in the art of ambiguity and in the unreliable narrator: "How much of this is what I'm seeing real? Are there ghosts or not?" That was something that was a touchstone for us.

Kathryn Hunter in "The Front Room"
Kathryn Hunter in "The Front Room." Jon Pack/A24
The ending is also a little ambiguous. We never actually saw Solange bite the baby, as Belinda accused her of doing. Personally, I wasn't convinced and wondered if Belinda may have done it herself to give Norman the push that he needed to finally get Solange out of there.

Max: Yeah, absolutely. It's intentional.

Just from an unreliable narrator standpoint, from a genre perspective, we want people to, even at the end, wonder, "Did she actually do that? Did she kill Solange? Was that actually what happened? Or is this just some kind of fantasy that she's having that she imagined that she did it?"

So the bite mark, I think we don't want to have any answers, per se, but we do want people to wonder, "Could she have actually done that?"

Sam: I think it goes, too, to that point of the truth of how does somebody like Solange affect you and what do you become as a result of it? And oftentimes, you could become that thing that you fear if you let it.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

"The Front Room" is now in theaters.
US singer-songwriter and actress Brandy is back for another horror film.

"The Front Room" follows Belinda and Norman whose lives are thrown into disarray when the man's mother moves in.

Brandy says she's felt a sense of freedom in recent creative endeavors including the latest A24 coproduction which is out in US cinemas.

"I love the fact that you get to be scared and you get to put together these scenes that scare other people and you bring life to a character," the 45-year-old says.

"And for me, way back in the day, it was just a lot of fun just doing that movie I loved 'I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.' They're doing a new one I hear and I would love to be a part of that. I just love the horror genre. I don't really love horror films, but I love the horror genre."

If Brandy doesn't really love horror film, her performance in the 1998 teen movie remains a classic.

In "The Front Room" she shot some dark scenes. For her, decompressing after starring in such movies is key.

"You compartmentalize everything and you try to break everything down and just step away from it, because I do go to some dark places in this film, but I come out alright."

The one-hour-34-minute film is loosely based on Susan Hill's 2016 short story.

It was filmed in anfamous and abandoned house in New Jersey.

'The Front Room' will release in the UK on 25 October.
The Front Room trailer reveals a pregnant couple forced into caring for a sinister, ultra-religious mother-in-law.
A24's pattern of successful horror films points to The Front Room potentially becoming a hit.
Brandy Norwood and directors Max and Sam Eggers' involvement in the film adds to the promising nature of A24's upcoming horror venture.
The trailer has been released for the upcoming horror film The Front Room. The Front Room is an A24 movie about a couple who has newly become pregnant, only to have to take care of the husband's estranged stepmother. The Front Room is directed by Max and Sam Eggers, and features a leading cast including Brandy Norwood, Kathryn Hunter, Neal Huff, and Andrew Burnap. It is set for release on September 6.

Now, A24 has released the trailer for The Front Room. Check it out below:

The trailer begins with a moment of serenity, as Norwood's character drives in the car listening to music. The scene suddenly shifts when her husband calls to reveal that his father has died. The couple then learns that the deceased's last wish was for his son to take care of his mother. Once said mother goes to live with them, the trailer turns far more sinister, as it is revealed that the ultra-religious mother-in-law thinks she can contact spirits.

Could The Front Room Be A24’s Next Horror Hit?
A24 Has An Excellent Track Record With Horror
Brandy yelling at somebody in The Front Room trailer
The trailer for The Front Room is deliciously eerie, providing a great balance of horror and familial strain, which are sometimes one and the same in this film. If the trailer is any indication, the A24 horror movie will make use of heavy religious themes and imagery, which is seen in the trailer through the twisted Nativity-esque scene towards the end. The trailer also sees Brandy's character referring to the mother-in-law (played by Hunter) as a "racist," hinting toward the broader sociopolitical tensions that may be at play in The Front Room.

As a distributor, A24 has a knack for finding films that have similar themes to The Front Room, which bodes well for it. A24's Hereditary, for instance, remains one of the most beloved in their oeuvre, which similarly follows a maternal figure whose insanity is just about as chilling as any jump scare. Last year, the studio put out Talk to Me, a widely-acclaimed and smash-hit horror film. Now, A24 will likely be looking for another hit horror film, and The Front Room looks like a promising replacement.

Though it is their first directorial effort, directors Max and Sam Eggers are not new to the A24 universe. They are the brothers of The Witch and The Lighthouse director Robert Eggers; each brother, respectively, had a role in those movies. Another notable team member is Brandy, who previously acted in the horror film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. With a great trailer and a promising team behind it, The Front Room could just become A24's horror hit of 2024.

Source: A24

The Front Room (2024) - Poster - Brandy
The Front Room
R
Horror
Thriller
The Front Room is a psychological horror film directed by the Safdie Brothers. Set in a single location, it revolves around a young, pregnant woman caring for her ailing grandmother, whose secrets and dementia create a tense and eerie atmosphere. The film stars Brandy Norwood and Kathryn Hunter, and explores themes of family, memory, and the supernatural.

Director
Max Eggers , Sam Eggers
Release Date
September 6, 2024
Writers
Max Eggers , Sam Eggers
Cast
Brandy Norwood , Andrew Burnap , Kathryn Hunter , Neal Huff , David Manis , Mary Catherine Wright , Ellen J. Maddow , Mary Testa
Main Genre
Horror
The Front Room trailer reveals a pregnant couple forced into caring for a sinister, ultra-religious mother-in-law.
A24's pattern of successful horror films points to The Front Room potentially becoming a hit.
Brandy Norwood and directors Max and Sam Eggers' involvement in the film adds to the promising nature of A24's upcoming horror venture.
The trailer has been released for the upcoming horror film The Front Room. The Front Room is an A24 movie about a couple who has newly become pregnant, only to have to take care of the husband's estranged stepmother. The Front Room is directed by Max and Sam Eggers, and features a leading cast including Brandy Norwood, Kathryn Hunter, Neal Huff, and Andrew Burnap. It is set for release on September 6.

Now, A24 has released the trailer for The Front Room. Check it out below:

Source: A24

The film was released by A24 in the United States on September 6, 2024. It has received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot
Heavily pregnant anthropology professor Belinda is frustrated with her treatment by her department, sleepwalking at night from anxiety, and still grieving from the loss of her first born son, Wallace. One evening, her husband Norman receives a phone call from a mysterious number, which turns out to be his estranged ailing stepmother Solange, who had called to inform him about his dying father. Norman refuses to visit his family, never revealing Solange’s religious abuse to Belinda. After quitting her job, Belinda comes home to news from Norman that his father has died. The couple goes to the funeral, and Belinda is introduced to Solange at the church wherein she proposes to the couple a deal: they accommodate her last days in their home and they get her hefty inheritance. Being financially unstable, Norman reluctantly agrees.

While moving in, Solange takes the front room, which was initially converted into a nursery for their new daughter. Soon after moving in, Belinda begins to experience racial and religious microaggressions from Solange, who also carries a Daughters of the Confederacy certificate. Norman informs Belinda that Solange believes the Holy Spirit possesses her, inducing her into trance-like states. Solange disapproves of the couple’s new baby name “Fern” and suggests she be renamed Laurie after Belinda’s father Lawrence, who died before she was born.

While praying one night, Solange seemingly spiritually induces Belinda into labor, giving birth via caesarean section. After Belinda gives birth, she returns home to her house being refurnished with Solange’s own furniture, including Norman’s father’s ashes, and her ultra-religious prayer circle gathered in their living room, who begin to intensely pray over Belinda and Laurie. Solange admits that Norman had agreed to the refurnishing and the gatherings without telling Belinda, much to her frustration.

After an extensive argument, Solange throws herself against a table, convincing Norman that Belinda pushed her. Pastor Lewis stops by to check on the family, and accidentally reveals Solange had already paid off the mortgage of the house in full. Stuck at home alone between caring for a frequently incontinent Solange and Laurie refusing to latch and crying extensively, Belinda begins having increasingly strange dreams and hallucinations. Laurie also grows more attached to Solange than to Belinda, and Norman begins to become more protective of Solange. Things come to a head when Norman is angered by a bite mark on Laurie’s arm, but Belinda convinces him that it was Solange’s, noting the missing tooth mark. Norman finally stands up to Solange, who spends the rest of the night loudly pleading for her death. The couple wakes up the next morning to Solange dead in her bedroom, and promptly cremate her. Laurie finally latches to Belinda.

Years later, the family is newly wealthy and moving into a new home. Belinda has Norman throw out Solange's chair. Belinda, now pregnant with twins, drives to a job interview singing "Non, je ne regrette rien" by Edith Piaf. At an interview for a new position, the dean asks her how she was able to deal with her previous situation; a flashback reveals Belinda smothering Solange to death.

Cast
Brandy as Belinda
Kathryn Hunter as Solange
Andrew Burnap as Norman
Neal Huff as Pastor Lewis
Production
On August 25, 2022, it was reported Max and Sam Eggers, brothers of Robert Eggers, would write and direct The Front Room, a psychological horror film starring Brandy, Kathryn Hunter and Andrew Burnap.[4][5] The film is based on the short story of the same name by Susan Hill, published in her 2016 collection The Travelling Bag and Other Ghostly Stories.[6] Filming took place in August and September 2022 in New Jersey, including at a house in Boonton, an office building in Parsippany–Troy Hills, and Fairleigh Dickinson University in Florham Park.[7] In mid-February 2023, Screen Daily reported that the film was in post-production.[8]

Release
The Front Room was released by A24 in the United States on September 6, 2024.[9] It is set to be released by Universal Pictures in the United Kingdom on October 25, 2024.[10]

Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada, The Front Room was released alongside Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and was initially projected to gross around $5 million from 2,095 theaters in its opening weekend.[11] The film made $600,000 on its first day, lowering weekend estimates to $1.5 million. It went on to debut to $1.7 million, finishing 10th at the box office.[12][13]

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 49% of 51 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Front Room gets some mileage out of Kathryn Hunter's memorably grotesque turn as an in-law from hell, but the scatological scares in this family squabble are more off-putting than frightening."[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 49 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[15] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C–" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it a 43% overall positive score, with 34% saying they would definitely recommend it.[13]

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