Saltburn: Emerald Fennell’s twisted thriller begins streaming globally on Prime Video on December 22

Amazon’s Prime Video is ready to stuff your stocking with something sultry and sinister this holiday season by bringing Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn to the steaming platform on December 22.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) brings us a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire. Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate for a summer never to be forgotten.

Emerald Fennell directs Saltburn from her own script. She also produces the disturbing film alongside Margot Robbie and Josey McNamara. Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, and Carey Mulligan lead the cast of debauched characters.

Speaking with Vanity Fair in August, Fennell described Saltburn as a “very British tale of excess.” Fennell says she looks forward to making audiences squirm, saying, “My favorite thing in general is sympathy for the devil. The sorts of people that we can’t stand, the sorts of people who are abhorrent—if we can love them, if we can fall in love with these people, if we can understand why this is so alluring, in spite of its palpable cruelty and unfairness and sort of strangeness, if we all want to be there too, I think that’s just such an interesting dynamic.”

I have it on good authority from a friend of mine that Saltburn is “one of the most disturbing films” you’ll ever see. It manages to subvert expectations even if you’re thinking the darkest and most disturbing thoughts. For a more official take, JoBlo’s Alex Maidy reviewed Saltburn for the site, saying Fennell delivers a unique cinematic experience with nuanced characters and alarming twists and turns.

“The melodramatic performances from Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pike are quite good but contrast the more nuanced turns by Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi,” Maidy wrote in his review. “Emerald Fennell knows her way around unlikeable characters whom we suspect we should hate but find ourselves drawn to. Keoghan dominates this film and elevates Saltburn from a potboiler to something much more. As good as his performance is, Fennell beautifully directs this movie that ventures from hilarious to depraved, often in the same scene. But when you dig a little deeper, there is not as much there as a production of this caliber should have. Saltburn is a solid sophomore effort from Fennell and cements that she is one of the most talented filmmaking voices working today, but it is not as balanced as her debut film.”

Saltburn comes to Prime Video on December 22, 2023. Watch with caution, and leave your parents out of the viewing experience. Trust me.