The sound of death is coming. IFC and Shudder have dropped the eerie first teaser trailer for Whistle, a Dafne Keen and Nick Frost-starring supernatural teen horror that finds an unlucky group of high schoolers stumbling across a cursed whistle — and unleashing their own doom in the process. Take a look at the trailer above and learn more below.
Directed by The Nun and The Hallow filmmaker Corin Hardy, the film follows a group of misfit students who blow a cursed Aztec whistle, only to discover that its haunting scream doesn’t just echo — it hunts. The chilling sound marks them for death, kicking off a spiral of supernatural terror as they scramble to uncover the whistle’s origins and find a way out. The screenplay comes from Owen Egerton (Blood Fest, Mercy Black).
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Leading the cursed crew is Logan and Deadpool & Wolverine breakout Dafne Keen, alongside Yellowjackets star Sophie Nélisse, Wednesday’s Percy Hynes White, Sky Yang, Jhaleil Swaby, Ali Skovbye, Michelle Fairley, and Nick Frost – the latter of whom can be seen trying out the whistle for himself at the end of the trailer.
“Whistle is made with the same heart-on-sleeve, disenfranchised-teen-spirit found in my favourite genre movies that I grew up watching,” Hardy said in a statement when the film’s U.S. rights were acquired in May this year. “I was drawn to the mysterious mythology surrounding the ‘Death Whistle’ and how it presented me with the opportunity to create a variety of cinematic, imaginative and terrifying deaths. This film is built for the big screen experience, so I can’t wait for audiences to blow the Whistle with Independent Film Company and Shudder in cinemas!”
Adam Koehler, Director of Acquisitions and Productions for Independent Film Company, Shudder, and RLJE Films, added: “Corin Hardy is a master of his craft and we’re overjoyed to be bringing this horrifying vision to audiences across the country. With Whistle, he’s created a vicious and bloody treat that will stand tall among the best and scariest horror films in recent box office history.”
Whistle will be hitting cinemas sometime in 2026. An exact release date has yet to be announced.
