The first trailer for filmmaker Corin Hardy’s (The Nun, The Hallow) latest horror venture, Whistle, was recently released, teasing audiences with a story inspired by the Aztec death whistle (also known as skull whistles). Directed by Hardy and written by Owen Egerton (who wrote the original short story on which the film is based), the U.S. rights to the film were acquired by Independent Film Company (IFC) and Shudder in May. Whistle stars Dafne Keen (best known for playing X-23 in Logan, Deadpool & Wolverine, and possibly future MCU movies) and Sophie Nélisse (Yellowjackets) spoke with ComicBook at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, where Nélisse admitted she avoided researching the whistle’s mythology because she was “way too freaked out.” Keen was more willing to dive into the artifact’s history, though she joked it may have been a mistake.
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“Honestly, I did the most stupidest thing I’ve ever done, which is I landed from the U.K., I was so jet-lagged, and I was like, ‘I’m gonna brave through the day and make it so I can sleep at night,’” Keen said. “And I researched the death whistle, and I was like, ‘This is terrifying. I’m gonna put this show on. Sophie’s in it.’ And it was Yellowjackets. I freaked myself out even more … Sophie was freaked out simultaneously, and thankfully, our fear led to us having a sleepover ’cause we were both terrified. But I did research it a little bit. I think there’s misconceptions about it. I think certain things I read were quite positive. It was a kind of peaceful way to summon the end. And then other ones were horrific. Like, legitimately, like the movie.”
Dafne Keen May Have Dug Too Deeply Into Whistle‘s Inspiration
Whistle also stars Sky Yang (Rebel Moon), Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead), Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones), Ali Skovbye (Firefly Lane), and Percy Hynes White (My Old Ass).
The official synopsis for Whistle reads: “A misfit group of unwitting high school students stumble upon a cursed object, an ancient Aztec Death Whistle. They discover that blowing the whistle and the terrifying sound it emits will summon their future deaths to hunt them down. As the body count rises, the friends investigate the origins of the deadly artifact in a desperate effort to stop the horrifying chain of events that they have set in motion.”
“Whistle is made with the same heart-on-sleeve, disenfranchised-teen-spirit found in my favorite genre movies that I grew up watching,” Hardy said in a statement earlier this year via AMC Networks. “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!”
“Corin Hardy is a master of his craft and we’re overjoyed to be bringing this horrifying vision to audiences across the country,” Director of Acquisitions and Productions Adam Koehler added. “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 is slated for a wide theatrical release in 2026.
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