UPDATE Nicolas Winding Refn's latest psychodramatic romp The Neon Demon is coming to our screens in a little over a month. Here's a new poster as it ramps up its marketing efforts.
Danish provocateur Nicolas Winding Refn loves nothing more than to twist our melons. Whatever you think of his loose and limber approach narrative – and his last, Only God Forgives, definitely wasn’t to all tastes – he definitely knows how to craft a striking image. And the new trailer for The Neon Demon is chockfull of them. Take a look below.
Marginally less dizzying than the first teaser but with only vague hints at what’s in store, it shows Elle Fanning’s aspiring model Jesse arriving in the cutthroat world of LA fashion snappers. There’s an unsettling, vampiric feel to it all. Will she devour or be devoured? Or a bit of both? “Who wants sour milk when you can get fresh meat?” asks one of her rivals.
According to the official synopsis: “Her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women that will do anything to take what she has.” The footage suggests that Jesse isn't quite as vulnerable as she might first appear.
There’s likely to be echoes of the likes of Suspiria, Black Swan and Mulholland Drive in any story about a beautiful ingenue’s ambitions ending in some kind of death and destruction, but Winding Refn does things according to his own playbook. Expect at least some unexpectedness.
With Mary Laws and Polly Stenham co-writing alongside the director and Jena Malone, Christina Hendricks, [Bella Heathcote](Bella Heathcote) and Keanu Reeves all appearing, The Neon Demon is in competition at Cannes this month. We’ll see it in the UK on July 8.