Psychonaut Boards Fizz-e-Motion as Fiona Dourif–Led Sci-Fi Thriller Debuts Trailer

Fiona Dourif stars in Psychonaut, a cerebral sci-fi thriller blending memory, grief, and psychological horror.

Psychonaut Boards Fizz-e-Motion as Trailer Unveils Fiona Dourif–Led Sci-Fi Thriller

A new genre-bending science-fiction thriller is gearing up for international buyers as Psychonaut secures sales representation and debuts its first trailer.

Per Variety, Fizz-e-Motion has boarded Psychonaut as sales agent ahead of the European Film Market in Berlin, with U.S. distribution set through Studio Dom. The film stars Fiona Dourif, continuing her steady presence in psychologically driven genre projects that blur horror, sci-fi, and emotional intensity.

Directed by Thijs Meuwese, Psychonaut centers on Max, a young woman who uses an experimental machine to enter the mind of her dying girlfriend in search of a memory that could save her life. As reality fractures, the journey becomes increasingly dangerous — not only emotionally, but physically — when a figure presumed dead begins hunting them from within the collapsing mental landscape.

Meuwese describes the film as a “trippy microbudget drama” rooted in science fiction and horror, citing influences such as Pi, Following, Primer, and The Lighthouse. Built to deliberately blur the lines between dream logic, memory, and lived experience, Psychonaut positions itself as an intimate descent into grief, love, and subconscious survival rather than a traditional high-concept sci-fi spectacle.

The film also stars Julia Batelaan, Yasmin Blake, and Lloydd Hamwijk, with producers David Grover, Monne Tuinhout, and Meuwese himself. Prior to its sales launch, Psychonaut has already built notable festival momentum, winning the Macabro Film Festival in Mexico and screening at Fantaspoa in Brazil, Reeling: The Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival, and the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.

Meuwese’s earlier genre work includes Molly (2017), which earned a Black Tulip Award nomination at Imagine Film Festival, and Kill Mode (2020), a Méliès d’Argent–nominated sci-fi action film that won Best Film Pitch at Imagine. Psychonaut appears to represent a more stripped-down, psychological evolution of those ideas, trading scale for intimacy and emotional risk.

The newly released trailer leans heavily into fractured imagery, tactile sound design, and destabilizing visual rhythms, signaling a film more interested in mood and mental collapse than clean narrative hand-holding. It’s a bold, abrasive introduction — one likely to divide viewers while attracting genre fans drawn to cerebral, low-budget experimentation.

With EFM approaching and genre festivals already responding, Psychonaut is shaping up as a strong late-night discovery for audiences who prefer their science fiction uneasy, personal, and uncomfortably human.

What did you think of the trailer — does this look like your kind of head-trip, or too far down the rabbit hole?