General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20264 min read

Piercing

Piercing is a 2018 American psychological horror film directed by Nicolas Pesce, adapted from Ryū Murakami's 1994 novel of the same name. It stars Christopher Abbott as Reed, a new father tormented by an urge to kill his baby with an ice pick, and Mia Wasikowska as Jackie, the call girl he summons to a hotel room with the intention of murdering her, a plan that goes off-script when she reveals her own agenda.¹^•² The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and competed in the Hivos Tiger Competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.³^•¹

Key fact	Detail
Director / year	Nicolas Pesce; USA, 2018, his second feature after The Eyes of My Mother (2016)²
Source	Ryū Murakami's 1994 novel Piercing; Murakami also wrote the novel behind Takashi Miike's Audition⁴
Premiere	January 20, 2018 at Sundance; international premiere January 30, 2018 at IFFR, in the Hivos Tiger Competition³^•¹
Principal cast	Christopher Abbott (Reed), Mia Wasikowska (Jackie), Laia Costa (Mona), Will Brill (The Bellhop)⁵
Runtime and rating	81–82 minutes; rated R for aberrant violent and sexual content, nudity, and language⁶
Production	Borderline Films (Josh Mond, Antonio Campos, Schuyler Weiss, Jacob Wasserman); world sales by Memento Films International¹
US release	Theatrical, digital, and VOD release beginning February 1, 2019⁴^•⁶

Spoilers

Plot

Reed is a young father of a newborn who, under pressure at work and facing what festival copy describes as stifling monogamy, is driven by a compulsion to stab his baby with an ice pick. A mysterious voice tells him he can rid himself of the urge by killing someone else instead. He tells his wife he is leaving on a business trip, packs a suitcase with bondage gear and the ice pick, checks into a hotel, and phones a call girl, rehearsing the murder while he waits.¹^•⁷

When Jackie arrives, the encounter takes an unexpected turn. She has plans of her own, possibly living out her own sadomasochistic fantasy, and the two engage in a dangerous game between reality and fantasy that triggers flashbacks and horror visions in which Reed's mother plays a role.¹^•⁷ Universal Pictures' synopsis describes the balance of control shifting between the two after an unexpected disruption, unfolding into what it calls a feverish nightmare.⁶

Adaptation and style

Pesce read Murakami's novel while making his debut feature The Eyes of My Mother and secured the rights with the help of that film's investor, describing the process as relatively straightforward.⁴ He has called the result a faithful adaptation that distills the book to its most essential parts, and he moved the Japanese story to New York City.⁸

Giallo influence. Pesce describes the film as an ode to Italian giallo movies of the 1970s, adapting Murakami "by way of giallo," and notes that the novel itself was inspired by Western erotic thrillers such as Basic Instinct.⁹ He saw an overlap with Audition, the Takashi Miike film based on another Murakami novel, in the turn where the apparent victim becomes the aggressor.⁹ The Melbourne International Film Festival notes stylistic devices including split screens and a soundtrack of pop songs.¹⁰ AFI FEST's program describes the film as a black comedy balancing kink, delight, and depravity with an aura of anonymous 1970s sleaze.²

Production and release

The film was produced by Borderline Films, the company behind Pesce's debut, with Josh Mond, Antonio Campos, Schuyler Weiss, and Jacob Wasserman as producers; Zachary Galler was the director of photography and Sofía Subercaseaux the editor.¹ Festival listings credit the music to Randall Poster,¹ while AFI FEST credits Milena Erke.²

After its January 20, 2018 Sundance premiere, the film screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (January 30, 2018), Finland's Night Visions International Film Festival (April 19, 2018), and the Sydney Film Festival (June 9, 2018), among other festivals.³ It reached theaters, Digital HD, and VOD on February 1, 2019,⁴ and Universal Pictures handles home video, listing a runtime of 1 hour 22 minutes and an R rating.⁶ As of recent listings it can be bought or rented on Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, and Fandango At Home, and purchased on DVD and Blu-ray.¹¹

Reception notes

AFI FEST's capsule review praised the two leads, writing that Abbott plays a closeted psychopath whose depressed exterior hides a world of torment while Wasikowska plays a childlike soul whose desires are more cutting than they appear.² Universal's marketing quotes a Film Pulse description of the film as "Brutal, sexy and disturbing."⁶ JustWatch aggregates a 58 percent score and a 5.5 user rating from about 9,300 votes.¹¹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Comedy horror films › 2000s and 2010s comedy horror films

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

Notice something wrong?