Amber Midthunder Reveals First Details About New Mike Flanagan-Backed Horror 'Rot'

There are some creative teams you follow anywhere, no matter how little you know about the project. Mike Flanagan has assembled one of those teams across Carrie, The Exorcist, and now Rot, an upcoming psychological body horror movie starring Prey’s Amber Midthunder. The new project also puts one of Flanagan’s longtime collaborators in the director’s chair for the first time.

Before returning to horror, Midthunder stars in Marie Clements’ How We Stand, which recently celebrated its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. She appears alongside Alyssa Wapanatâhk, Isabel DeRoy-Olson, and Cara Jade Myers in the magical realist drama about three Indigenous sisters separated by tragedy. While discussing How We Stand at TIFF with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff, Midthunder also offered a tease about the very different character awaiting her in Rot.

While Midthunder could not reveal much about her mysterious Rot character, she made it abundantly clear that this is not more of what audiences have already seen from her. In fact, the role appears to be sending her into completely unfamiliar territory: “She’s very new for me. That is all I’m going to say. It’s very much pushing me out of my comfort zone, but I would only do that, I think, with that team.”

‘Rot’ Is Taking Amber Midthunder Outside Her Comfort Zone

That team is led by Alexandra Magistro, who will make her feature directorial debut with Rot. Magistro is far from a newcomer to Flanagan’s horror universe, however. She wrote and produced on the upcoming Carrie series, serves as a producer on Flanagan’s The Exorcist, and is the Vice President of Creative at his Red Room Pictures. Midthunder had already worked with Magistro on Carrie, and if there were any doubts about whether the first-time feature director was ready for the opportunity, Midthunder was quick to eliminate them:

“I love Alex. Alex is not new to us at all. She was a writer and a producer on Carrie, she’s one of the producers on The Exorcist. She’s an incredible mind and artist. I mean, I could talk about her for, like, 30 minutes straight.”

Midthunder continued by praising Magistro’s command of both character and story, explaining that she always has something insightful to offer regardless of which moment in a screenplay they are discussing. Most importantly, Magistro knows the genre she is stepping into. “She’s so smart, she loves the horror genre, and there just isn’t a moment when she’s not so keyed in to a story, a character,” Midthunder said. “She also really deserves this moment.”

Written by Geo Bradley, Rot follows an antisocial man who becomes a trauma cleaner following the death of his hoarder mother. His attempt to confront his past soon begins to infect and dismantle his mental state. Cooper Koch and Carrie co-star Matthew Lillard will appear alongside Midthunder, while Flanagan produces through Red Room Pictures.

Rot does not currently have a release date. You can catch Midthunder in Carrie next month. Stay tuned at Collider for the rest of Nemiroff's conversation with Midthunder and the rest of the team behind How We Stand.