'Them That Follow': Release date, cast, plot and everything else about Olivia Colman's film about snake-handling Pentecostals
If you haven't watched a slow-burning, eerie movie set in an isolated community of serpent handlers, and would like to do so (it definitely isn't for everyone), Olivia Colman's upcoming film 'Them That Follow' is your best bet. Still basking in her Oscar-win glory, Colman features in the film in a role that is a complete u-turn from her role in 'The Favourite', which won her an Academy Award for best actress.
The film's truly terrifying trailer dropped on June 6 and it will slither into theatres soon. Here is all you need to know about the upcoming film:
Release Date
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27 and will release in theatres on August 2, 2019.
Cast
The film boasts a phenomenal cast, with Alice Englert in the central role as a young woman named Mara who lives in an isolated community of snake-handling Pentecostals deep in Appalachia. Mara's father, the lead pastor Lemuel Childs, is played by Walton Goggins. Thomas Mann appears as Augie, Mara's romantic interest. Colman is cast as Hope Slaughter, a creepy woman who is seen watching Mara in the film. Kaitlyn Dever and Jim Gaffigan also feature in the dark thriller.
The film is directed and written by Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage, in their directorial debuts. It is produced by Gerard Butler, Bradley Gallo, Michael A. Helfant, Danielle Robinson, and Alan Siegel, and distributed by 1091 Media.
Plot
The film revolves around the forbidden relationship between Mara and Augie and the deadly consequences that they have to face for infidelity in the community. Goggins' pastor character oversees the community’s unorthodox methods of Pentecostal healing, which involves a lot of snakes and disturbing visuals.
Mara continues her affair with Augie while also preparing for her wedding with another man, all under the watchful eye of a mysterious woman named Hope (Colman). The trailer shows someone dropping a snake into Augie's bed, and Hope telling an off-screen character they’ll "burn" for an undisclosed sin.
Pastor Lemuel himself seems pretty disturbed in the trailer, just like all the other characters in the gothic film, which flashes scenes of cult-like rituals with haunting constant rattling as the background score.
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