'The Swarm' Trailer: It's Invasion Of The Killer Locusts In Netflix's New Horror Movie

French horror movies aren't your average horror movies. They tend to be paced a little slower, they're thematically a little darker, and they almost always stick with you long after the credits roll. That all looks like the case with the new Netflix horror flick, The Swarm (original title: La Nuée).

Single mother Virginie (Suliane Brahim) starts raising edible locusts as a high-protein crop in order to save her failing farm. She has a lot to juggle, between the bugs, bills piling up, her children Laura (Marie Narbonne) and Gaston (Raphael Romand), and her troublesome neighbors. Everything changes, however, when she discovers the locusts have a taste for blood.

While discovering that your swarm of locusts is bloodthirsty is definitely frightening, the trailer hints that Virginie isn't as frightened as she should be. There seems to be a kind of bond between the farmer and her brood. Shortly after realizing that the bugs are drinking up the red stuff, we see her pouring literal buckets of blood. So is she feeding them? Training them? Or will they consume her and everything she loves?

The trailer features some stunning visuals, including lots of shots that utilize the gauzy plastic tents Virginie raises the locusts in. There's also a decent bit of blood, though if it's anything like its French horror peers, The Swarm will focus more on existential dread than on gallons of gore. The trailer has an A24-esque feel to it that makes me really worry for that poor goat.

The Swarm is the first feature film from director Just Philippot. It debuted at the Angoulême Film Festival in France in August 2020 before making the international festival circuit. It screened as a part of Cannes Critics' Week in 2020, and was selected for the Audience Award and Critics' Award at the Gérardmer International Fantastic Film Festival 2021. It was also awarded the Special Jury Prize and Best Actress Award at the 2020 Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival.

I, for one, am thrilled to see Netflix picking up more French horror to deliver to the masses. After delivering Alexandre Aja's Oxygen in May, The Swarm looks like it will be another terrifying thriller from the land of crossaints and champagne. I just hope that they don't decide to do any remakes, because American takes on French horror haven't exactly gone well in the past.

The Swarm debuts on Netflix August 6, 2021.