A House of Dynamite trailer: Kathryn Bigelows missile crisis movie looks downright terrifying

Do you want an anxiety attack on this fine day? Then check out the trailer for Netflix’s A House of Dynamite, the upcoming missile crisis drama from Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty).

Directed by Bigelow and written by Noah Oppenheim (Zero Day, Jackie), A House of Dynamite focuses on the tense scramble following the news that an unattributed nuclear missile is headed straight for the US. Now, there is only 18 minutes to save the country from a devastating strike.

Oppenheim gives us different perspectives on these 18 minutes, showing them over and over in the point of view of officers in the Situation Room (Rebecca Ferguson and Jason Clarke), security advisors (Gabriel Basso and Greta Lee), and of course, the US President himself (Idris Elba). All of whom must reckon with their responsibilities in this time of impending peril.

Just yesterday, A House of Dynamite had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice International Film Festival, where it was met with critical acclaim for its intensity and its relentless ability to tap into anxieties about nuclear war. While I haven’t seen the film myself, I can confirm that even the trailer alone manages to stir up these anxieties.

Chillingly set to Carl Sagan’s iconic “Pale Blue Dot” speech, A House of Dynamite‘s trailer is a nightmarish exercise in building tension. Seeing the DEFCON rating tick relentlessly upwards is already bad enough, but pair that with the chilling tagline of “not if, when,” and you’ve sent me into a spiral.

Check it out for yourself above, but be prepared to have the inevitability of nuclear war looming over you like a gloomy mushroom cloud for the entire day.

A House of Dynamite also stars Jared Harris, Tracy Letts, Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Jonah Hauer-King, Malachi Beasley, Brian Tee, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Willa Fitzgerald, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Kyle Allen, and Kaitlyn Dever.

A House of Dynamite hits select theaters Oct. 3 in the UK and Oct. 10 globally. The film will debut on Netflix Oct. 24.