Hold Your Breath: Release date, plot, Trailer, and Everything we know About the Sarah Paulson Thriller

Searchlight Pictures has released the official trailer for the psychological horror-thriller film Hold Your Breath. Originally titled Dust, the film sits at the border between the supernatural and the psychological. It follows a mother who is grieving and extremely devoted to her daughters’ safety and begins to behave in a more sinister manner.

Tony Award winner Sarah Paulson, who plays the mother in Hold Your Breath, said, "Mother-daughter connection is at the core of the story. It's not a slasher movie. It is really, at its core, an emotional story about a woman who is desperate to keep her children safe."

Talking about the Dust Bowl-era Oklahoma, she said, "The movie, the unraveling, takes us into a different space, but the reality, the foundational circumstance of the movie, is one of a real American horror. This idea that you couldn't even leave your home, and then even inside your home you couldn't prevent the dust from getting inside."

Here's everything we know so far about Hold Your Breath, including where and when you can stream it online, the plot, cast details, filming locations, an official trailer, and more. Stay tuned as we update this article regularly with new updates.

Release date & Where to Watch

Hold Your Breath will be available to stream on Hulu on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. Before that, it will premiere in the Special Presentations section at the Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024. The movie is rated R for some violence and disturbing images.

Plot

In the 1930s, relentless dust storms ravaged the heart of Oklahoma, engulfing everything in sight. In the midst of this harsh landscape, a woman becomes increasingly convinced that an evil force is looming, threatening her family's existence. She will do whatever it takes to ensure that her loved ones are safe.

When the older girl tells the legend of the Grey Man to the younger one, the whole family is deeply affected. The Grey Man is a spirit that is carried like dust in the wind, breathed in, and never to be shaken. In the official trailer, the woman's children read about "the grey man," who, "if you breathe him in, he'll make you do terrible things."

Cast

• Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story, 12 Years a Slave, Carol) as Margaret Bellum
• Amiah Miller (My Best Friend’s Exorcism) as Rose Bellum
• Annaleigh Ashford (Welcome to Chippendales) as Esther Smith
• Alona Jane Robbins (New Amsterdam) as Ollie Bellum
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) as Wallace Grady
• Arron Shiver as Sheriff Bell
• Frances Lee McCain as Bertha Bell
• Courtney Cunningham as Birdie Mae Bell

Trailer

Where was Hold Your Breath Filmed?

Filming locations include Oklahoma and in and around Stanley, Santa Fe, and Galisteo, New Mexico.

The film created the all-consuming storms using "a lot of loose dirt," Paulson said. "We had a real situation on our hands that was like the Dust Bowl itself, sort of self-created."

"I was that crazy person who had to fight with the safety coordinator to be like, ‘More dust!’ when I'm standing there with the bandana around my nose," she added. "I'm one of those actors that — this probably is a communication of my lack of skill, actually — where it's like, the more real it can be, the better."

Behind the Scenes

The film is written by Karrie Crouse, directed by Crouse and Will Joines, and produced by Alix Madigan and Lucas Joaquin. Paulson is an executive producer, and the film is distributed by Searchlight Pictures.