Forget the sun-drenched fields of Midsommar—a new folk horror film is about to take the genre to even more unsettling territory. Alex Noyer, the director behind the body horror Sound of Violence, is back with Love Is the Monster, and we've got an exclusive sneak peek that will make you think twice about couples therapy.
The film centers on Ana and Justin, a couple played by Twin Peaks: The Return alum Madeline Zima and Westworld star Leonardo Nam. Their marriage is on the rocks after infidelity comes to light, so they head to a remote Midsummer couples retreat in Finland. There, they hope to reset under the midnight sun, guided by a shaman named Tiina (Milla Puolakanaho), who draws inspiration from the ancient Finnish goddess of love and fertility, Lempo.
In our exclusive clip, Ana wakes up to the sound of a bird flapping inside their cabin. The warm sunlight streaming through the windows should feel comforting, but instead it creates a dreamlike, eerie atmosphere. When she opens the door to the lush outdoors, she sees what appears to be Justin staring back at her with vacant white eyes—just as a bird rushes toward her. Meanwhile, the real Justin stirs in bed and sees what he thinks is Ana muttering an apology and "I love you." But when she turns, he's met with a blood-soaked terror that preys on the couple's fragility.
Noyer describes the scene as a perfect illustration of how Ana and Justin are already being pulled apart. "From the very first nightmare, which you see in this clip, Love Is the Monster throws you into a relationship that's already slipping out of reality," he says. "Ana reaches for someone who isn't her partner, and from there the film keeps twisting love into something sacred, dangerous and completely inescapable. All of it plays out in broad daylight, because we wanted to strip away the reassuring comfort of darkness."
Setting much of the terror in the sun also lends itself to a feeling of helplessness and lack of control. Noyer leans into the erotic side of folk horror with Love Is the Monster, using it to further illustrate the complicated nature of the relationship at its center and the power Lempo has over the people at the retreat. "Erotic folk horror feels liberating because it strips everything down to instinct, such as desire, fear, and the loss of control," he explains. "Right now that messiness feels a lot more honest than the polished, 'perfect' love stories we've been sold."
Noyer co-wrote the script with Hannu Aukia and Blair Bathory, who both previously collaborated with him on Sound of Violence. Much like that film was made with a clear understanding of the subgenre, Love Is the Monster is very much made to be "my very twisted love letter to Midsummer and to folk horror," the director says. "It's a story about troubled couples who go to Finland looking for healing and instead fall under the spell of an ancient goddess of love, where desire, devotion and self‑preservation are all at war with each other."
Perhaps the greatest message is that there is no quick fix to deep-seated issues between two people who love each other. It's ultimately up to a couple to work together to steer that bond in the right direction, lest they wind up landing themselves in a grisly plot to resurrect a violent goddess of love. "Lempo promises to heal your love, but in this story love is pure energy, and it will drive you to passion or to destruction," Noyer adds. "If you're flying to a remote Finnish couples retreat to fix your relationship, you might already be in more trouble than you think."
For more on the intersection of horror and relationships, check out our While You Wait for 'Reacher' Season 4, Marvel's 'The Punisher' Delivers the Same Brutal Thrills and Why the Wishmaster Series Is the Ultimate Guilty Pleasure Horror Binge.
