Benedict Cumberbatch Struggles with Grief in ‘The Thing With Feathers’ Trailer

Benedict Cumberbatch stars in The Thing With Feathers as a widowed father trying to hold his family together, alongside Richard Boxall and Henry Boxall as his two young sons. The film offers a chilling, sorrow-soaked look at grief manifesting in haunted form.

Also starring in the drama film are Vinette Robinson, Sam Spruell, Leo Bill, Eric Lampaert, and David Thewlis, who lends the voice of the menacing Crow.

Directed and written by Dylan Southern, The Thing With Feathers premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, then screened at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it was presented in the Berlinale Special Gala lineup. It is scheduled to open in U.S. theaters on Black Friday, November 28th, 2025.

The film is an adaptation of Max Porter’s novella Grief Is the Thing With Feathers.

Here is the official synopsis: Left to raise two young sons after the unexpected death of his wife, Dad’s life begins to unravel. Grief is messy and chaotic enough as it is, but when it takes the form of an unhinged and unwanted house guest — Crow — taunting him from the shadows, things start to spiral out of control … but maybe that’s exactly what Dad needs.

Critics response to The Thing With Feathers has been mixed, with The Hollywood Reporter praising Benedict Cumberbatch for “hurling himself into the role of a bereaved husband in a performance touched by madness that holds nothing back. His wounds are gashes continually being reopened.” On the more critical side, The Guardian review graded the film a 2 of 5, writing, “It’s actually surprisingly, sometimes boringly, conventional, not just as a grounded drama of loss but as a metaphorical horror too.”

Watch the official trailer for The Thing With Feathers, above.