A desperate pursuit of reinvention spirals into body horror in our exclusive The Scorpion trailer.
Gotham Award nominee Sebiye Behtiyar (Preparation for the Next Life) and Emmy nominee Sonja O’Hara (Doomsday) star in the feature debut from writer-director
Zachary Allard. Behtiyar earned a Gotham Award nomination for Breakthrough Performer for Preparation for the Next Life. O’Hara recently wrapped production on body horror feature Snare, opposite Wicked star Marissa Bode and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning breakout Greg Tarzan Davis.
Allard makes his feature directorial debut from his own screenplay. In addition to directing, he serves as a development executive at Exile Entertainment, the management and production company led by Gary Ungar. His previous scripts have been optioned by Caviar and Endless Media.
Blending body horror with a dark examination of ambition and self-worth, The Scorpion follows Kit (O’Hara), a struggling young woman whose dream of launching her own clothing line has stalled. Desperate for money and a chance at a better life, she accepts a position at a cutting-edge cosmetics laboratory that claims to have replaced animal testing with willing human participants.
What begins as an opportunity for financial stability quickly mutates into something far more sinister. As Kit becomes increasingly entangled in the facility’s bizarre experimental procedures, her fortunes begin to improve—but disturbing physical and psychological changes soon emerge, forcing her to confront the true cost of transformation.
“All of this could be yours,” promises one voice in the trailer, as flashes of invasive treatments, chemical injections, and ominous figures in hazmat suits hint at the nightmare lurking beneath the laboratory’s polished exterior. “Would you do anything?” Kit asks as the footage builds toward a surreal and unsettling climax.
Behtiyar co-stars as Lizzie, a charismatic new recruit at the experimental clinic who forms a deep bond with another test subject as the women endure increasingly disturbing transformations together.
Produced by Raechel Zarzynski, Kathy Sue Holtorf, Garrett Recker, and Greg Elam, The Scorpion is executive produced by Pete Szijarto and Independent Spirit Award- winning producer Corey Moosa (Margin Call).
The film was lensed by cinematographer Davon Slininger, the longtime camera operator known for his work alongside filmmakers David O. Russell and Damien Chazelle.
