You can always feel a Yorgos Lanthimos film before you see it. There's a certain vibration—a hum of absurdist dread laced with pitch-black comedy—that precedes his work. And the first full trailer for Bugonia, his riotous, unnerving remake of the Korean cult classic Save the Green Planet!, is vibrating at a frequency designed to shatter nerves and tickle funny bones. It's a film that asks: what if your wildest, most-derided conspiracy theory was… true?
The setup is gloriously unhinged. Two conspiracy-obsessed men, played by a frantically committed Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis, kidnap Michelle (Emma Stone), the impeccably dressed, terrifyingly calm CEO of a monolithic pharmaceutical corporation. Their thesis? She's not human. She's an alien orchestrating the end of the world. The trailer masterfully tightrops between their paranoid, sweaty delusion and Stone's chilling, almost otherworldly composure. “There is no possible scenario where you benefit from this incident,” she states, not with fear, but with the bored condescension of a god dealing with gnats. Or is it the calculated response of something not of this world trying to regain control?
Lanthimos, fresh off the Oscar-laden Poor Things and the triptych madness of Kinds of Kindness, seems to be merging his early Greek Weird Wave sensibilities with a bigger budget and his now-trademark star power. The visual grammar is all here—the disorienting wide-angle lenses, the sterile production design that feels both luxurious and clinical, the deadpan delivery of absolutely deranged dialogue. He's not just remaking a film; he's assimilating it, filtering a beloved Korean genre-mashup through his uniquely off-kilter psyche. The result feels both familiar and startlingly new.
The project's pedigree is a film nerd's dream. The screenplay is penned by Will Tracy (Succession, The Menu), a writer who knows his way around the corrosive nature of power and the idiocy of those who seek to topple it. And the producer list is a powerhouse indie roll call: Lanthimos's usual partners at Element Pictures (Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe), Emma Stone herself, and—in a deliciously fitting twist—modern horror maestro Ari Aster and his partner Lars Knudsen. It's a meeting of minds that thrives on discomfort.
For those who haven't seen Jang Joon-hwan's 2003 original—and the trailer admits not many have—this is a gift. It's a chance to experience a truly bonkers narrative twist for the first time, but with Lanthimos as your unpredictable guide. The film officially premieres today at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, with reviews from the Lido sure to dominate film discourse by nightfall. Following its festival run (which includes stops at Telluride and TIFF), Focus Features will open Bugonia in select US theaters on October 24, 2025, before a wide release on October 31—a perfect Halloween treat for those who prefer psychological terror over jump scares.
This isn't just another trailer drop. It's an event. It's Lanthimos reaffirming his status as cinema's most fascinating provocateur, armed with a killer premise and a cast operating at the peak of their powers. Stone and Plemons have become his modern-day muses, capable of shifting from heartbreaking pathos to utter ridiculousness on a dime. The buzz is real, and it's weird. Gloriously, magnificently weird.
So, mark the calendar. Clear your head. And maybe, just maybe, look at your CEO a little differently on Monday.
What Makes ‘Bugonia' a Must-Watch
The Lanthimos-Stone-Plemons Trinity
This trio has evolved into one of the most director-actor simpatico partnerships in modern cinema. Their shared language of the absurd ensures this is more than a simple retread; it's a continuation of a fascinating artistic conversation.
A Cult Classic Reborn
The original Save the Green Planet! is a hidden gem, a film that defies genre classification. Lanthimos's remake promises to introduce its audacious vision to a wider audience, all while applying his own distinct aesthetic and thematic obsessions.
The Festival Playbook
A premiere at Venice confirms its high-art credentials, while a wide release on Halloween acknowledges its pulpy, genre-bending heart. This dual identity is exactly where Lanthimos thrives.
The Aster Influence
While only on board as a producer, Ari Aster's presence in the credits is a telling sign. His love for visceral, psychological horror suggests Bugonia will have more than just weirdness on its mind—it'll likely get under your skin.
The Central Mystery
The genius of the premise is its unwavering commitment to the question: is she or isn't she? The entire film hinges on this ambiguity, a tension that Lanthimos is expertly equipped to sustain for a full two hours.
What's your take? Does this look like a worthy successor to Lanthimos's recent streak, or is the director's idiosyncratic style starting to feel like a familiar routine? Let's debate in the comments.
