Watch: First Trailer For Polanski-esque Thriller ‘The Ones Below’ Starring Clémence Poésy

Making a first film is difficult, but the task becomes even harder when your film evokes the characteristics of one of cinema’s great filmmakers. But for his feature debut, “The Ones Below,” screenwriter and playwright David Farr attempts the feat, and while it doesn’t quite succeed, it’s still well worth the journey.

Starring Clémence Poésy, David Morrissey, Stephen Campbell Moore, and Laura Birn, the Polanski-esque thriller centers on Kate and Justin, a young couple who befriend their new, and slightly mysterious, neighbors, Jon and Teresa, that have moved in downstairs. When a baby arrives for Kate and Justin, and a tragedy befalls their new friends, the relationship between the neighbors take on an eerie and sinister dimension.

In my review from TIFF, I wrote that while the movie “isn’t a bold new vision on the intersection of parenthood, mental unraveling, and anxiety, it’s a worthy attempt at entering that cinematic canon.”

“The Ones Below” opens in the U.K. on March 11, 2016. The U.S. release will be handled by Magnolia. [The Guardian]