STX Entertainment's Suspense Thriller 'The Gift' in Theaters August 7th

The suspense thriller The Gift follows the story of a young married couple, Robyn (Rebecca Hall) and Simon (Jason Bateman), who come into contact with an old acquaintance of Simon's named Gordo (Joel Edgerton). After a few visits and some over-the-top gifts, the couple begins to feel not only uncomfortable but threatened by Gordo. Simon seems to think that Gordo is holding a horrifying secret Simon made over twenty years ago over his head. The couple ends up heading into a twisted situation of chaos, deceit and it seems like Gordo just won't leave them alone. There's the tense push and pull of a cat and mouse situation between the couple and Gordo, but also that deep dark secret that Gordo is either making up or will eventually reveal.

This is the writing/directing debut of actor Joel Edgerton, who most recently appeared in films such as Zero Dark Thirty, The Great Gatsby and Exodus: Gods and Kings. The message of the film seems to be carrying that old adage of how the past can come back to haunt you. Gordo's character is an exact personification of that and it's interesting to philosophize about how relatable the film will be for a wide variety of a target audience seeing as can anyone really say that they've never harmed another human being? Similar horror films have been released in the last couple of years questioning humanity and what certain person is capable of doing to another. There's the more notable The Purge and its sequel starring Ethan Hawke and lesser known films like Snowpiercer starring Chris Evans and You're Next.

Edgerton has been such a distinguished actor that this could be a nice change or addition to his list of talents as he ascends to the director's chair.

The Gift comes to theaters August 7th. You can check out the trailer here.