Jake Gyllenhaal faces art world horrors in Netflix’s ‘Velvet Buzzsaw'

Netflix has released a trailer for its creepy new film Velvet Buzzsaw. Written and directed by Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), it's set in LA's art scene and shows what happens when "art collides with commerce." The film features an all-star cast, led by Jack Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo, which includes John Malkovich, Toni Collette, Natalia Dyer (Stranger Things), Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting), Tom Sturridge (On the Road) and Zawe Ashton (Wanderlust).

The trailer shows art critic Morf Vandewalt (Gyllenhaal) maneuvering through the art world of Los Angeles, attending gallery shows and passing judgement on everything he comes across. But when Josephina, played by Ashton, comes across some eerie and compelling art created by a now-deceased neighbor, Rhodora Haze (Russo), who runs the largest contemporary art gallery in Los Angeles, sees a money-making opportunity in Josephina's discovery.

As the neighbor's art hits the scene, it causes quite a buzz, but after a while, those that spend time with the paintings, start to experience their darkness in real life. Figures in the paintings are seen reaching out into the world, grabbing those nearby, and whether the attacks are real or imagined, the people around the artwork are winding up dead. "Something truly god damn strange is going on," Vandewalt aptly shouts at one point.

Gilroy told Vanity Fair that the inspiration for the film came while he was wandering around a huge art warehouse by himself one evening. "The idea that artists invest their souls in their work and it's more than a commodity -- that has always interested me," he said. "I suddenly saw a way of incorporating it all, to explore how, when art and commerce are dangerously out of balance, bad things can happen."

Velvet Buzzsaw will debut on Netflix February 1st.