Dacre Montgomery and Vicky Krieps Star in ‘Went Up the Hill’ Gothic Horror Film | Trailer

Samuel Van Grinsven’s haunting sophomore feature film, Went Up the Hill, fuses psychological drama with gothic supernatural horror. The film stars Dacre Montgomery as Jack, who returns to remote New Zealand for the funeral of his estranged mother. There, he meets her widow, Vicky Krieps as Jill. As night falls, Jack and Jill begin a chilling nocturnal dance where Elizabeth’s spirit, Jack’s mother, possesses both of them in an unsettling display of grief, guilt, and psychological unraveling.

Went Up the Hill world-premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), where Krieps even performed the film’s closing song “Jill” live at the premiere. Following TIFF, the film traveled to high-profile festivals such as Adelaide Film Festival, Torino Film Festival, Thessaloniki, Luxembourg City Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award, plus Sydney, Glasgow, Dublin, Frameline (San Francisco LGBTQ+ festival), and others. Greenwich Entertainment will release the filmvtheatrically on August 15, 2025.

Abandoned as a child, Jack (Dacre Montgomery, Stranger Things) travels to remote New Zealand for the funeral of his estranged mother, Elizabeth. There, he meets her widow, Jill (Vicky Krieps, Phantom Thread, Corsage), and over the nights that follow, Elizabeth’s spirit begins to possess them in turn. What starts as a search for closure soon unearths deeper wounds.

Bound by grief and haunted by what remains, Jack and Jill must break free from Elizabeth’s grasp before she pushes them to the edge. Set against the deeply atmospheric backdrop of New Zealand’s South Island, Went Up the Hill is an intimate, modern ghost story from Samuel Van Grinsven that explores the legacy of loss and the struggle to let go.

In a recent interview, director Van Grinsven elaborated on the film, saying, “Thematically, the film is really about control. It’s unique in that it’s a three-hander told with two actors. That third character is the embodiment of that theme of control. Because [Elizabeth] is not physically on the screen, and the audience doesn’t meet her in the flesh, it was about how do we imbue her sense of control and her history into the house, into the textures, and into the landscape? We found it in the color palette which came from the remote New Zealand landscape.”

See the official trailer above.

Theatrical Release

Opens August 15
New York, NY // IFC Center; AMC Empire 25
Los Angeles, CA // Laemmle Monica Film Center, Laemmle NoHo 7, Frida Cinema, and more
Atlanta, GA // Tara Atlanta 4; AMC Colonial 18 Theatres; AMC Southlake Pavillion 24
Baltimore, MD // AMC White Marsh 16
Boston, MA // AMC Boston Common 19
Chicago, IL // Gene Siskel Film Center; AMC Crestwood Theatre 18; AMC River East 21; AMC Streets of Woodfield 20; AMC Village Crossing 18
Cincinnati, OH // AMC Newport on the Levee 20; AMC West Chester 18; Esquire Theatre
Columbus, OH // Gateway Film Center; AMC Easton Towne Center 28
Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX // AMC Grapevine Mills 24; AMC Mesquite 30 Theatres; AMC Stonebriar 24
Denver, CO // Harkins Northfield 18; AMC Highlands Ranch 24; AMC Southland Stadium 16; AMC Westminster Promenade 24
Detroit, MI // Emagine Palladium
Honolulu, HI // Mililani Theatres
Houston, TX // River Oaks Theatre; AMC First Colony 24 Theatres; AMC Gulf Pointe 30 Theatres;
Indianapolis, IN // Living Room Theater; AMC Indianapolis 17
Kansas City, MO // AMC Independence Commons 20
Las Vegas, NV // AMC Town Square 18
Madison, WI // AMC Fitchburg 18
Memphis, TN // Forest Hill Cinema Grill
Miami, FL // AMC Aventura Mall 24; AMC Sunset Place 24
Milwaukee, WI // AMC Mayfair Mall 18
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN // AMC Southdale 16; AMC Inver Grove 16;
Philadelphia, PA // Goggleworks Film Theatre; AMC Cherry Hill 24
Phoenix, AZ // Harkins Arrowhead Fountains, Arizona Mills 18, Harkins Chandler Fashion Center, Harkins Flagstaff 16 and more
Portland, OR // Living Room 6; Regal Fox Tower 10
Raleigh-Durham, NC // AMC Southpoint Cinemas 17
San Antonio, TX // Santikos Embassy 14
San Francisco, CA // Landmark Opera Plaza
Seattle, WA // AMC Alderwood 16; AMC Southcenter 16; AMC Kent Station 14
Tampa, FL // AMC Highwoods 20; AMC Veterans Expressway 24; AMC Woodland Square 20
Tulsa, OK // Circle Cinema
Washington, DC // AMC Hoffman Center 22; AMC Potomac Mills 18; Regal Kingstowne 16
Wichita, KS // East Warren Theater

Opens August 22
Cleveland, OH // Cleveland Cinematheque
Hudson, NY // Story Screen Cinema
Phoenix, AZ // Mary D. Fisher Theater

Opens August 29
Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX // Modern Art Museum of Ft. Worth