The dinner party set-up is one of the oldest dramatic set-ups in the book – the perfect place for a frosty familial showdown, as booze flows, secrets emerge, tensions rise, and a perfectly well-intentioned meal becomes a nightmare zone of arguments. But they’re always fascinating to watch, especially with a killer cast involved – and A24’s upcoming drama-thriller The Humans has an especially great one. Set over the course of a brutal thanksgiving dinner, it boasts Beanie Feldstein, Steven Yeun, Richard Jenkins, and Amy Schumer among those joining the table. In fact, it might be the most A24 movie ever made (take that, C’Mon C’Mon!). Check out the tense trailer here.
This one looks like a claustrophobic work, and it’s the debut film from writer-director Stephen Karam, adapting his own stage play. And if it looks like a primarily serious film, there are some fun meta flourishes here – with dialogue referring to a “zombie show” that surely has to be a reference to The Walking Dead, (formerly) starring one Steven Yeun. Plus, we get Schumer in a fully dramatic role, the ever-reliable brilliance of Beanie Feldstein, and Jayne Houdyshell reprising her Tony-winnig role from the stage show.
No word yet on when The Humans will hit UK shores – A24 films sometimes take their sweet time coming over from the States. But for US viewers, this one is out just in time for Thanksgiving, hitting cinemas on Wednesday 24 November – and it’ll be coming to Showtime too.