The Punisher's Jon Bernthal Lets His Demons Out In Sweet Virginia Trailer

Is what happens when the Punisher goes pulp fiction?

Actor Jon Bernathal, best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Baby Driver, and Marvel's The Punisher, stars alongside Imogen Poots, and Rosemarie DeWitt in the upcoming indie film Sweet Virginia. The film recently dropped a chilling new trailer, featuring Bernthal's character unleashing his innermost demons.

Directed by Jamie M. Dagg, based on a Black List script by Ben and Paul China, Sweet Virginia follows Bernthal's Sam, who runs a motel in a small Alaskan town. There, he meets a mysterious drifter named Elwood, played by Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and It Comes at Night star Christopher Abbott. The pair form a genuine friendship, but something sinister sizzles below the surface: Sam doesn't know Elwood is actually a hitman, the one responsible for a massacre that took out a handful of locals. When the truth finally rises to the light, Sam's darkest impluses do, too. 

The trailer also spotlights early reviews from critics, who call the film "a dark and densely packed chunk of pulp fiction" and "one of the year's best thrillers." When the clip hit the internet, Bernthal expressed just how much Sweet Virginia means to him. "This film is my heart. I hope y'all dig it. Big love," the actor wrote on Twitter.

Check out the gritty, gripping trailer above.

Here's the full synopsis for Sweet Virginia (courtesy of the trailer's description): "A mysterious stranger sends shockwaves through a close-knit community in this nerve-jangling slice of raw suspense. In the wake of a triple murder that leaves the residents of a remote Alaskan outpost on edge, tightly wound drifter Elwood (Christopher Abbott) checks into a motel run by Sam (Jon Bernthal), a former rodeo champion whose imposing physical presence conceals a troubled soul. Bound together by their outsider status, the two men strike up an uneasy friendship—a dangerous association that will set off a new wave of violence and unleash Sam's darkest demons."

From IFC Films, Sweet Virginia will hit theaters on November 17.