Filmmaker Joshua Gratton is set to unveil his new slasher film Platypus at this year's Fantastic Fest, introducing a masked killer wielding an unconventional weapon: a seashell. Collider shared an exclusive image of the character ahead of the festival, the largest genre film event in the United States, as part of its preview series highlighting new entries into horror's pantheon of iconic villains.

Platypus follows a young girl, Kimberly, played by debut actress Kayla Lundstram, who is the only person aware of a masked killer terrorising her small town, and whose nightmares grow more vivid as the threat closes in. Shot on Super 8 film for a deliberately low-budget, DIY aesthetic, the movie blends fake blood, offbeat dialogue and queer-inflected humour in the tradition of classic slashers. It is Gratton's second feature after 2020's Cuties, another queer slasher with a comedic 1980s horror sensibility.