Edgar Wright is currently in post-production on his first ever straight horror movie, titled Last Night in Soho. His first major movie was Shaun of the Dead, a horror-comedy that isn’t light on either horror or comedy, while elements of terror can be found in Wright’s other movies, like the cloaked serial killers of Hot Fuzz or the bloodthirsty alien robots of The World’s End.
However, his latest movie is his first entry in the bona fide horror genre, and based on the mastery of the filmmaking craft shown in his previous films, moviegoers are pretty excited. So, here is Everything We Know (So Far) About Edgar Wright’s New Horror Movie, Last Night In Soho.
It’s influenced by Don’t Look Now and Repulsion
In order to set the tone when Last Night in Soho was first announced as Edgar Wright’s next film, the producers namechecked Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and Roman Polanski’s Repulsion as the director’s major inspirations for the film.
Don’t Look Now is a harrowing story about a couple who travel to Europe as they attempt to move on from the grief of losing a child in a horrible accident, while Repulsion follows a sexually repressed woman who loses touch with reality when her sister goes away on vacation. So, Last Night in Soho will likely be horrifying in more than one sense.
It’ll be released on September 25, 2020
Last Night in Soho is set to be released into theaters on September 25, 2020. This will put it in the popular Halloween frame for spooky movies. Its competition on that release date isn’t too scary; The Sopranos’ big-screen prequel The Many Saints of Newark is the only other major release on that day.
It could face contention from fellow horror movies The Conjuring 3 and Monster Hunter, which will be released a couple of weeks prior, while the week after its release, it’ll have to stave off the superhero sequel Venom 2 and the Tom Hanks-starring sci-fi original Bios.
The cast includes Anya Taylor-Joy and Matt Smith
Anya Taylor-Joy, considered to be the leading “scream queen” in modern horror, has been cast in the lead role of Last Night in Soho. Matt Smith has been cast as the male lead. He was very laudatory towards his director: “Edgar Wright is a master filmmaker.
Watching him was such a privilege on the set because, a bit like Tarantino, he has such a clear vision and identity and individual style. I am really excited about that movie. That’s all I can say really.” Screen legends Diana Rigg and Terence Stamp will also be appearing in the film in as-yet-undisclosed supporting roles.
It’s set in London
Unsurprisingly, considering this is a movie named Last Night in Soho, the story will take place in London, specifically in the Soho area. Soho is located on the West End of the city. It has a rich history, being established as a royal park by Henry VIII in the 1500s. By the 20th century, it was known as a hub for the sex trade.
Now, Soho is mainly famous for its bustling nightlife, being the home to many bars and clubs. Wright said, “I realized I had never made a film about central London – specifically Soho, somewhere I’ve spent a huge amount of time in the last 25 years. This movie is about the London I’ve existed in.”
Wright co-wrote the script with Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Edgar Wright always writes his own movies. One of the main reasons that he ended up quitting Ant-Man was that Marvel Studios wanted to replace his script with their own and then get him to direct it. That’s not his style. With Last Night in Soho, naturally, he’s written the script – but he didn’t write it alone.
He co-wrote the script with Penny Dreadful staffer Krysty Wilson-Cairns. This isn’t the first time Wright has co-written a script he’s directed – he co-wrote the Cornetto trilogy with Simon Pegg and his adaptation of Scott Pilgrim was co-penned Michael Bacall – but this is his first time working with Wilson-Cairns.
Chung Chung-hoon is shooting the movie
Edgar Wright has worked with a number of different cinematographers – most frequently Bill Pope – but the cinematographer sitting behind the camera on Last Night in Soho is the acclaimed Chung Chung-hoon, best known for his work with director Park Chan-wook on spectacular movies like Oldboy, Stoker, and The Handmaiden.
So, expect Last Night in Soho to share a distinctive visual style with Korean horror. One of the movie’s stars, Matt Smith, noted the contributions of the cinematographer and named the brilliant Korean zombie movie Train to Busan (which was not shot by Chung, but rather by Lee Hyung-deok) as a personal favorite.
Last Night in Soho was the result of a burst of inspiration
Edgar Wright was working on a documentary about the band Sparks and a sequel to Baby Driver when he suddenly decided to dive head-first into production on Last Night in Soho. The movie was clearly the result of an abrupt burst of inspiration that came to Wright, because he put those other projects on hold to allow him to make it.
Inspiration like that is lacking in today’s Hollywood. On the horizon after Last Night in Soho, Wright has confirmed that he is still working on his Sparks documentary and he has a script for Baby Driver 2 that he’s happy with.
The story might be set across two time periods
According to unconfirmed (and very possibly untrue) reports, Last Night in Soho might take place across two different time periods. Anya Taylor-Joy’s scenes apparently take place in the 1960s, with Matt Smith playing her manager (this is consistent with set photos that show Taylor-Joy and Smith in ‘60s-style attire), although “manager” is vague and could have her playing a singer, an actress, a model, or anything.
Thomasin McKenzie will reportedly play a fashion student in the present day on the flip-side of this two-timeline narrative. McKenzie is set to appear in Taika Waititi’s upcoming satire Jojo Rabbit, so there’s a chance she won’t be so unknown for long.
Shooting has wrapped
Wright took to social media recently to announce that shooting (or, at the very least, the main bulk of shooting before the necessary reshoots are determined) has wrapped on Last Night in Soho, as it edges closer and closer to release. He posted the first look at the movie, which was a creepy image of a woman with pale skin and dark eyeshadow, with the caption: “That is a wrap on main unit photography on my next feature film, ‘Last Night in Soho.’ Can’t wait for you all to see @lastnightinsoho on a big screen near you, September 25th, 2020...”
It’s a psychological horror movie
It’s not enough to categorize a movie in the horror genre, but the horror genre contains a huge, disparate range of subgenres. Edgar Wright has dabbled in a few of these subgenres, including zombies, slashers, and a Body Snatchers-type alien invasion. He also helmed a fake trailer for a movie called Don’t, a spoof of the American trailers for British horror films, for the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double-feature Grindhouse.
Last Night in Soho will be a psychological horror movie – arguably the most disturbing subgenre of all – focusing on the deteriorating mental state of its characters in a head-spinning plot. It’s very exciting stuff.
