Emma Watson joins a cult during a coup in the trailer for Colonia

By Danette Chavez | February 18, 2016 | 3:20pm

Film Features Film

Emma Watson moves from the occult to a plain old cult in the trailer for Colonia, a thriller from Oscar-winning (short film) director Florian Gallenberger. The film is set in 1973 in the midst of Augusto Pinochet’s military coup that overthrew Chilean president Salvador Allende. Lena (Watson) and Daniel (Inglorious Basterds’ Daniel Brühl) are newlyweds and Allende sympathizers, and their anti-Pinochet protesting leads to Daniel being spirited away by the dictator’s secret police (DINA). But Lena manages to track him down to the secluded Colonia Dignidad, a charitable mission run by Paul Schäfer (John Wick’s Michael Nyqvist), an ersatz preacher who doesn’t spare the rod—or the backhand.

The real-life Colonia Dignidad reportedly served as a torture center for DINA (and may have even once housed Josef Mengele), and the trailer hints at such activities, which is all the more reason for Lena to help Daniel escape. But it doesn’t look like it’ll be easy, as they’ll have to navigate a complicated system of tunnels while also evading their captors.