Amy Allen’s sci-fi thriller

As Amy Allen drives through an American Western landscape, the sun sets behind her, and all hell breaks loose. 

In Difficult, a young woman gets out of the car, slightly dazed, but unhurt, and begins running to the abandoned building nearby, searching for help. It’s not long before she’s followed by a reckless driver, and so begins a mad dash for safety. The filming and beats of the promo encapsulate a moment in horror-movie history when “based on a true story” films were taking over the silver screen. The twist, the fight against the mirror image, makes this promo a slasher film-meets-Twilight Zone.

Directors Charlotte Fassler and Dani Girdwood as Similar But Different create a lush landscape, with a color palette that feels retro and clean, opting for sharpness and defined contrast instead of a soft, blurrier focus, commonly used in films that want to evoke an old-school sensibility. Working with production company division7, Difficult takes advantage of restrictions to develop a raw and dynamic storyline.

“We wanted to craft something together that had a twisted narrative in its bones,” states Similar But Different, “we loved diving into this unexpected world and thriller genre with her.”