Ghosts of the Falklands Haunt New Horror Film ‘Eyes of the Abyss’
- Horror News
Emily Bennett- 0
- 4 minutes read
The first trailer for Eyes of the Abyss, a ghostly maritime horror film set during the Falklands War, has been unveiled ahead of its Cannes Market premiere this month. Presented by Black Mandala Films, the Argentina-set thriller blends historical trauma with supernatural dread and will be shown as part of the Fantastic Pavilion Official Selection, following its previous inclusion in the BIF Market’s 2024 Work-in-Progress showcase.
Set aboard a derelict warship adrift in the South Atlantic, Eyes of the Abyss opens with a soldier regaining consciousness amidst a sea of corpses. With her memories fractured and hostile forces descending on the vessel, she is forced to engage in a desperate fight for survival. As the situation grows increasingly unhinged, the film hints at forces beyond the physical world, with haunting echoes of war bleeding into a surreal, ghost-laden confrontation at sea.
Directed with an overtly retro sensibility, the film leans into visual stylings reminiscent of 1980s genre cinema, deploying practical effects, smoke-drenched corridors, and miniature model work to evoke the claustrophobia of naval horror classics. The trailer gives glimpses of a disorienting, hallucinatory descent into violence and vengeance aboard a vessel that may have crossed over into some liminal, purgatorial space.
Verónica Intile leads the cast as the unnamed soldier, following standout performances in On the 3rd Day and White Coffin. She is joined by Gustavo Pardi (1978), Raymond Lee (The Last Boy on Earth, Asylum), Cristian Mariani, Kevin Schiele, and Pablo Turturiello. Carolina Alfonsín, Pedro Rissi, Ezequiel Gelbaum and Guido Botta round out the cast.
While the trailer avoids spelling out specific supernatural elements, it teases a psychological and possibly metaphysical reading of the protagonist’s struggle, suggesting that the horrors of war do not stay buried with the dead. There are hints that the ship may itself be a kind of tomb, a vessel adrift in time as much as space, with lingering spirits demanding vengeance.
Eyes of the Abyss joins a growing body of Argentinian genre cinema using horror to interrogate historical violence. Though the Falklands War forms the backdrop, the film appears less interested in political commentary than in exploring trauma through stylised spectacle. The international sales push is expected to begin at the Cannes Marché du Film this month, with buyers being shown a promo to secure distribution deals ahead of the film’s completion later this year.
Black Mandala’s output in recent years has included a range of genre films that prioritise bold visuals and unconventional formats. Eyes of the Abyss looks set to follow that trend, positioning itself as a surreal survival horror with militaristic ghosts and a relentless sense of dread lurking below deck.
