The reviews are absolutely glowing for Goran Stolevski’s folk horror You Won’t Be Alone in the film’s latest trailer. Focus Features is smart to lean into the rave reviews from out of Sundance, although I would criticize them for leaving out my own because I loved it, too. Easily the best film of this genre since The Witch, it stars Noomi Rapace, Alice Englert, and more in the story of a 19th-century Macedonian witch who uses her shapeshifting powers to blend into human society.
It does not go well. And I don’t just mean that she must brutally murder those she takes the form of, but her experiences as a woman, a male, and a child are not all they’re cracked up to be. This is one of the goriest explorations of humanity you’re likely to see, but also one of the most insightful, especially for this genre.
You Won’t Be Alone opens in theaters on April 1st.
Set in an isolated mountain village in 19th century Macedonia, the film follows a young girl who is kidnapped and then transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit. Curious about life as a human, the young witch accidentally kills a peasant in the nearby village and then takes her victim’s shape to live life in her skin. Her curiosity ignited, she continues to wield this horrific power in order to understand what it means to be human.
