Vertical Entertainment is set to bring an intense winter thriller to theaters with The Damned, the feature-length debut from Icelandic director Thordur Palsson. Known for his work on The Valhalla Murders in 2019, Palsson takes audiences back to a brutal 19th-century fishing village where survival and morality clash in a haunting tale. Featuring The Daughter’s (2015) Odessa Young and Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole, The Damned arrives in cinemas on January 3, 2025.

Set against the relentless chill of winter, The Damned tells the story of Eva, played by Young, a widow barely making ends meet in a remote fishing village. When a ship wrecks along their icy coast, Eva and her neighbors are forced to make a life-or-death choice: risk their own lives to rescue the stranded crew or leave them to perish. The stakes are high, and each decision carries potential for irreversible consequences, forcing Eva to weigh the lives of her loved ones against the cries for help from those trapped offshore.

Joining Young and Cole, the cast includes Siobhan Finneran (Coronation Street), Rory McCann from Game of Thrones (2011-2019), Turlough Convery (Saint Maud), Lewis Gribben from Somewhere Boy in 2022, and Black Mirror’s Francis Magee. Palsson developed the story, with Jamie Hannigan, who wrote two episodes of The Women In The Wall in 2023, adapting it into a screenplay that captures the harsh beauty and moral complexity of the setting, amounting to a unique horror film to start off the new year.

The Damned has been gathering acclaim following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and subsequent screenings, including the Tribeca Film Festival. The film’s visual storytelling, crafted by cinematographer Eli Arenson, who filmed Lamb for A24 in 2021, draws viewers into the stark isolation of the setting, immersing them in the bleak landscape and tension. Early reviews have praised Palsson’s atmospheric style and Arenson’s cinematography for capturing the desolate ambiance of the harsh winter.

For those intrigued by moral dilemmas wrapped in atmospheric horror, The Damned is shaping up to be a must-watch as it lands in theaters early next year.