Trailer / Movies
Pendulum Trailer: Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Healing Retreat Turns Sinister
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Phoebe Dynevor enter a New Mexico retreat in Mark Heyman's Pendulum. Watch the official trailer and check the confirmed release dates.
Topics: Pendulum, Mark Heyman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Phoebe Dynevor, Jacki Weaver, Psychological horror, Folk horror, Vertical
Pendulum opens in US theaters on January 1, 2027, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Phoebe Dynevor playing a grieving couple who seek help at an isolated retreat. The new official trailer introduces Mark Heyman’s horror film ahead of a New Year’s Day release also listed in Canada by Elevation Pictures.
The central question is an uncomfortable one: when does surrendering control to someone promising recovery become dangerous? The film puts that anxiety inside a marriage, with the couple increasingly divided over the group meant to help them.
Watch the official Pendulum trailer
The trailer is available through Vertical’s official YouTube release. The accompanying October 29 release information identifies Heyman as both writer and director and confirms Vertical’s nationwide US theatrical date.
What is Pendulum about?
Patrick, played by Gordon-Levitt, and Abigail, played by Dynevor, travel to a secluded new-age retreat in New Mexico after a tragedy. According to the distributor’s synopsis, Abigail becomes increasingly drawn to its charismatic leader, played by Jacki Weaver.
Patrick grows fearful about what is happening to his wife. The premise leaves room for two competing readings: a dangerous group’s influence, and a husband whose own perception is becoming unreliable. That uncertainty is part of the advertised story, rather than confirmation of a supernatural explanation or a particular final twist.
The retreat setting places the film near folk horror’s interest in closed communities, ritual and belonging. Its grief and troubled relationship also point toward psychological horror. Those are useful ways to understand the premise without treating its fictional group as a documentary account of a real organization.
Official Canadian theatrical poster supplied in Elevation Pictures’ Pendulum press materials. © C2 Motion Picture Group; courtesy of Elevation Pictures / Vertical. Complete composition retained.
Who is in the cast?
The announced ensemble includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Phoebe Dynevor, Jacki Weaver, Norman Reedus, Jena Malone and Anna Deavere Smith. Gordon-Levitt and Dynevor anchor the couple’s story, while Weaver plays the leader whose hold over Abigail worries Patrick.
Heyman wrote and directed the film. Darren Aronofsky is among its producers; that credit should not be confused with directing Pendulum. The distinction matters when the poster draws attention to the filmmakers’ earlier work.
When and where is Pendulum released?
| Market | Confirmed theatrical release | Distributor |
|---|---|---|
| United States | January 1, 2027, nationwide | Vertical |
| Canada | January 1, 2027 | Elevation Pictures |
These announcements do not establish a worldwide release on the same day. A streaming date and other countries’ theatrical dates are not confirmed by the sources linked here. Readers outside the US and Canada should check a local distributor or cinema listing before making plans.
For another upcoming film approaching religious dread from a different angle, see our Portrait of God report. Our Other Mommy book-versus-film guide covers a separate family-centered horror story and contains ending spoilers.
