Entertainment
“Jury of Her Peers” – The Gritty Indie Film Taking Us Back to a Dark Corner of Iowa’s Past, and WhyWe Should Care
Alright, I’ll admit it. When I heard some indie outfit in Iowa was making a film about a 1900s axe murder, I nearly dismissed it. Another period piece murder mystery? But, for once, color me impressed. Will Do Films, LLC, is digging up history most of us forgot, and doing it with a clear-eyed look at a crime—and at the women who got caught in its murky, brutal wake. Set to release in 2025, Jury of Her Peers is proving that a Midwestern murder story has as much grit as any highbrow East Coast drama.
Now, the setup: directed by William Rock and produced by Amy Nigg, Jury of Her Peers retells a grim true crime that actually happened in Iowa over a century ago. A rural axe murder—how quaint, right? Except it’s anything but. This story is inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winner Susan Glaspell, a woman ahead of her time, writing stories that peeled back society’s polite façade. Glaspell’s original tale of this unsolved murder gave women a voice in a time when society would’ve preferred they had none. And Rock’s adaptation not only honors her work but brings it thundering back to life with modern relevance.
Let’s get to the meat of the story: it follows two women, Dora Hale (played by Stephanie Schneider) and Margaret Wright (Brianne Magel), trying to survive in an era when a woman could be convicted in the court of public opinion faster than you can say “good old boys.” When Margaret is accused of murdering her husband, it’s her best friend Dora who steps in, trying to unravel the truth from the fiction. They’re joined by Cheyenne Goode as Eliza Peters, Margaret’s sister and the sheriff’s wife, who, frankly, is doing her best to maintain control over a case that’s as messy as the lives it entangles.
What’s refreshing—and trust me, I don’t throw that word around—is that Jury of Her Peers doesn’t just coast on a Victorian aesthetic. The film doesn’t dress up in period garb, tip its hat, and call it a day. No, this team dives into the ethical messiness, forcing viewers to contend with the same questions these women faced over a century ago. The concept of “justice,” you see, isn’t clear-cut here; it’s tangled in layers of loyalty, isolation, and fear. Are we solving a murder, or are we dragging our own skeletons into the light?
In case you’re curious (and I know you are), Jury of Her Peers isn’t just a drama for the Midwest folks to fawn over; it’s a piece of feminist history reanimated, highlighting the unspoken lives of women whose voices have been stifled by society for far too long. It’s about time we dug up these voices and gave them the chance to be heard, both in 1900 and in 2025.
Catch the teaser trailer here, And mark my words, Jury of Her Peers isn’t just another indie flick. It’s a story, a message, and a reckoning. For more, visit https://juryofherpeers.com and brace yourself for a film that doesn’t pull punches, especially when it comes to the truth.
