New trailer for A24's horror movie The Front Room is terrifying me with its creepy mom-in-law vibes

(Image credit: A24)

A24 make some of the best horror movies with recent titles like Hereditary and Beau is Afraid exploring themes around complicated families, especially when it comes to mothers, and it seems like its upcoming film The Front Room will follow in their footsteps going by a new trailer.

The new movie’s official trailer (see below) centers on a young couple forced to take in the husband’s estranged stepmother – but unwanted guests are a pain and this one is no exception. We’re introduced to Belinda (Brandy Norwood) who learns her husband’s father died in an accident, and one of his last wishes was for his wife (played by Kathryn Hunter) to go and live with his son if anything happened to him. Belinda and her husband are not thrilled by the idea, but soon realise that if they don’t welcome her mother-in-law into their home, her husband will be cut out of the will.

While it may sound like a bit of an inconvenience, there’s a lot more going on here and it starts to get very A24 with creepy visuals all over the place. The couple find out that she’s hiding some pretty dark secrets and is incredibly self-interested, bossing her way around the home.

What do we know about The Front Room?

The Front Room hits theaters on September 6, 2024. While it’s too early to reveal an official streaming release date yet, we can assume it will arrive on Max given A24’s multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Discovery. Once we have some clarity on that, we’ll update you.

The movie is the directorial debut for Max and Sam Eggers, and if you’re thinking ‘hang on, that name sounds familiar’, you’d be right. They are the brothers of Robert Eggers who is well known for his work on The Witch and The Lighthouse, and it seems like all three brothers are horror aficionados.

They’ve got a different style, though. The Front Room is very much a modern day horror that plays on some religious and occult tropes, as we see the mother-in-law behaving very strangely throughout the trailer. Belinda is pregnant with the couple’s first child, too, so expect motherhood to be a very prominent theme with this one.

Lucy is a long-time movie and television lover who is an approved critic on Rotten Tomatoes. She has written several reviews in her time, starting with a small self-ran blog called Lucy Goes to Hollywood before moving onto bigger websites such as What's on TV and What to Watch, with TechRadar being her most recent venture. Her interests primarily lie within horror and thriller, loving nothing more than a chilling story that keeps her thinking moments after the credits have rolled. Many of these creepy tales can be found on the streaming services she covers regularly.

When she’s not scaring herself half to death with the various shows and movies she watches, she likes to unwind by playing video games on Easy Mode and has no shame in admitting she’s terrible at them. She also quotes The Simpsons religiously and has a Blinky the Fish tattoo, solidifying her position as a complete nerd.