Watch the first trailer for the film we called in our Sundance Film Festival review “an elaborate, chaotically hilarious, intensely terrifying journey worth taking.” Adapted from the Sundance Special Jury Award-winning 2018 short film of the same name, and the feature film itself winning the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance, “Emergency” is a satirical thriller that aims to bring tension humor to the craziness of college and the complications of race.
READ MORE: ‘Emergency’ Review: A Terrifying Joy Ride Through White Fragility [Sundance]
Here’s the official detailed synopsis:
Kunle (Donald Elise Watkins) and his best friend, Sean (RJ Cyler), are both seniors in college about to embark on an epic night of Spring Break parties. Sean has the whole night planned out, including every party they will hit on their “legendary tour.” Kunle is down, yet mostly concerned with finishing up his mold experiment in his lab, as his acceptance to Princeton is hinging on the results. They return to their apartment to pre-game, yet find that their roommate, Carlos (Sebastian Chacon), left the door open.
As they enter with trepidation, Sean and Kunle discover a drunk, semi-conscious White female they don’t know on the floor and an oblivious Carlos, who didn’t hear her come in over the video game blaring in his ears. Kunle wants to call the cops, but Sean vehemently opposes the idea, concerned about how it will look when the cops show up (two Black men, one Latino man, and a passed-out White woman).
Together, Carlos, Sean, and Kunle load the girl, who they nickname Goldilocks, but whose real name is Emma (Maddie Nichols), into Sean’s van to take her somewhere safe rather than calling the police. Meanwhile, Emma’s sister, Maddy (Sabrina Carpenter), has realized that Emma left the party they were at, and begins to search for her in a drunken panic using Emma’s phone’s location. What ensues is a chaotic, hilarious, and tension-filled chase all over town as our trio grapples with their differences while attempting to bring Emma to safety.
Starring RJ Cyler, Donald Elise Watkins, Sebastian Chacon, Sabrina Carpenter, Maddie Nichols, Madison Thompson, and Diego Abraham, written by KD Davila, and directed by Carey Williams, “Emergency” releases in theaters on May 20 and is then available to stream through Prime Video on May 27. Watch the new trailer below.