If you’re a fan of Lars von Trier then a Lars von Trier serial killer drama sounds like a twisted blood-fest you won’t want to miss. Violence? Despair? A great cast? Check! Check! Check! The House That Jack Built looks to be the Danish filmmaker’s grisliest film yet.

The first trailer wastes no time introducing Matt Dillon’s serial killer, and it’s got a wicked sense of humor about it. Uma Thurman is a stranded woman on the side of the road who hitchhikes in Jack’s (Matt Dillon) van. “That was maybe a mistake,” she says. “Me getting in this car with you. You might as well be a serial killer. You do kind of look like one,” she says with a laugh. Then he whacks her across the face with a car jack and drags her body into a warehouse. We get a montage of more nasty killings, all while Bowie’s “Fame” blasts on the soundtrack. Murder, but fun!

Here’s the full synopsis:

USA in the 1970s. We follow the highly intelligent Jack through 5 incidents and are introduced to the murders that define Jack’s development as a serial killer. We experience the story from Jack’s point of view. He views each murder as an artwork in itself, even though his dysfunction gives him problems in the outside world. Despite the fact that the final and inevitable police intervention is drawing ever near (which both provokes and puts pressure on Jack) he is - contrary to all logic - set on taking greater and greater chances. The goal is the ultimate artwork: A collection of all his killings manifested in a House that he builds. Along the way we experience Jack’s descriptions of his personal condition, problems and thoughts through a recurring conversation with the unknown Verge - a grotesque mixture of sophistry mixed with an almost childlike self-pity and in-depth explanations of, for Jack, dangerous and difficult manoeuvres.

To be honest this looks as full of despair as any von Trier film; for god’s sake, Dillon’s killer shoots a child with a sniper rifle and smiles as Riley Keough screams for help to no answer. What’s a von Trier movie if it doesn’t leave you full of depression and calling your therapist once you exit the theater?

After his seven-year ban from Cannes, the festival has welcomed von Trier back. The House the Jack Built makes its world premiere at the fest tonight, so we’ll be hearing reactions in no time. The film, which also stars Bruno Ganz, hits theaters in the U.S. this fall.

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