Most viewers might recognize Max Minghella from his terrific turn in Hulu's "Handmaid's Tale" or "The Mindy Project" or a number of acting credits in film and TV. But he's also a writer/producer/director, and with "Shell" he not only makes his second directorial effort, he also reunites with "Tale" ace Elisabeth Moss.

Moss plays Samantha, an actress who starred in a hit TV show when she was younger, but now, a little older, is losing roles she’s perfect for to younger, fitter actors, despite her talent. She’s vulnerable, and her agents tell her to try the Shell Clinic, which promises eternal youth and beauty. The treatment works, and she befriends Shell founder Zoe (Kate Hudson). But strange, nasty things start happening to Sam’s skin, people start disappearing, and the authorities and villains both start hunting Sam down.

“Shell” is an homage to ‘80s thrillers and is steeped in science fiction — it’s set in a near future with high-tech electric cars and omniscient wrist devices — but it’s also a dark comedy with plenty of body horror elements and satire. Pic is produced by Range, Blank Tape, Love & Squalor and Dark Castle Entertainment, with WME Independent and CAA Media Finance handling U.S. sales and Black Bear handling international sales.

“I really liked the idea that the film might be set in the future, but not in a naturalistic future, and maybe the future that we thought we would be in in the 1990s; it's kind of a retro-future, I guess, if I can give it a lazy title,” Minghella says.