Horror has always been obsessed with the thin veneer of civilization. We watch characters in tailored suits or curated galleries shed their humanity not because they are forced to, but because the beast underneath is tired of being leashed. Andrea Corsini’s Ferine understands this visceral truth. Marking the director’s leap from the 2019 short film to a full-length English-language feature, the movie does not waste time on exposition. It drops us directly into the gullet of a narrative where wealth, power, and art are merely camouflage for something far older and hungrier.
The Architecture of Decay
Carolyn Bracken, leveraging the eerie, grounded intensity she displayed in Oddity and You Are Not My Mother, anchors the film as Irene. She is not a victim waiting to be saved; she is a force of nature undergoing a terrifying metamorphosis. As Irene succumbs to uncontrollable primal instincts, her physical transformation into a predator is depicted with a grotesque elegance. This is not body horror for shock value alone; it is a visual manifestation of repressed desire and destructive ego spiraling out of control.
The narrative gains its sharpest edge through Irene’s intersection with Dama, portrayed by Caroline Goodall. Goodall’s Dama is a lavishly wealthy trafficker of exotic predator animals, a role that requires a chilling, detached charisma. When Dama identifies Irene not as a client, but as a mercurial predator, a morbid bond forms. It is a meeting of two apexes, a dynamic that threatens the safety of everyone in their orbit. The tension here is not derived from jump scares, but from the dread of inevitable collision. Paola Lavini and Elisabetta Caccamo bolster the ensemble, ensuring the world around these two women feels both opulent and fragile.
A Sonic Assault
Perhaps the most significant gamble Corsini takes is entrusting the musical score to Pino Donaggio. The man who defined the sonic landscape of Brian De Palma’s Carrie and Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now is back. His involvement signals that Ferine intends to operate on a classic, psychological horror wavelength. Donaggio’s compositions are not just background noise; they are the heartbeat of Irene’s transformation, swelling with dissonance and dread as the art collector loses her grip on reality.
Ferine is scheduled to screen at the 30th Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, running from July 16 through August 2, 2026. With a festival lineup boasting 125 features and over 200 shorts, competition will be fierce. However, the recently released official teaser trailer suggests Corsini has crafted a film that is visually distinct and sonically haunting. The Scream Scale verdict is clear: this is a promising, stylish entry that prioritizes atmospheric terror over cheap thrills. It is not perfect—some narrative threads may feel too tightly wound for the runtime—but the primal energy is undeniable. Corsini has successfully translated the short’s promise into a feature that is both intellectually stimulating and viscerally disturbing.
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