Movies
AFM ’11: Sara Paxton Reteams With ‘Shark Night’ Director to Solve ‘The Briar Lake Murders’
Back in January we broke the news that David R. Ellis (Shark Night 3D, Cellular, Snakes on a Plane, The Final Destination, Final Destination 2) would be heading back to the water with The Briar Lake Murders, working with cinematographer Daniel Pearl, who is known for his DP work on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003, Friday the 13th and Warners forthcoming The Apparition.
With the American Film Market kicking off tomorrow, the film’s temp website has the first official casting. Ellis is to reteam with Shark Night 3D starlette Sara Paxton, who can also be seen in Ti West’s supernatural The Innkeepers and The Last House on the Left remake.
Penned by Walter Jakubowski, Neal Fischer and David Nevarez, the film follows a group of reckless and self-involved “twenty somethings” who quickly discover that disrespecting the locals can have disastrous circumstances… “A group of rude and insensitive city kids take a weekend vacation to Briar Lake, a picturesque town overlooking a beautiful lake, which to most outsiders would appear to be a peaceful small town. Having zero respect for anyone outside of their group, they are confronted by the hostile and eccentric residents. Following a bizarre experience in the town’s diner, they quickly retreat to the protection of their borrowed vacation lake house, where they plan to let loose and celebrate their weekend out of the city.
After an unexpected visit from the local police, the long weekend is cut short. Two of the locals have been brutally murdered, and this group of “outsiders” become the prime suspects. When the string of murders spins out of control, the group must come together to unravel Briar Lake’s sordid past and uncover the hidden secrets.
A vacation is always fun until you die!”
Last year, 20th Century Studios emerged victorious in a heated bid for the python survival thriller Crush. Today brings new developments on the project, as Deadline reports that it’s found its director in Julius Avery (The Pope’s Exorcist, Overlord).
The survival thriller is said to follow “a woman hiking alone in the Everglades who wakes to find herself trapped in the crushing coils of a massive python, fighting to stay alive as every breath brings her closer to death.” It’s said to be inspired by true events and told primarily in real time.
It was the snake-themed spec, penned by current Temple Hill executive John Fischer, that inspired a massive bidding war. He posted the script on the Black List under the pseudonym J.W. Archer, which led to quick outreach from reps eager to sign him.
Fischer took it to his Temple Hill bosses. “Needless to say, it was quite a surprise when John walked into our office and told us he had written a script on the weekends in Spain while working on one of our movies,“ Bowen and Godfrey said in a statement previously. “We went from being terrified about how to come up with nice things to say when he asked us to read it to elated that it was a thrill ride of a movie that we wanted to produce. We can’t wait to abuse him with pages and pages of notes as we move this into production.”
Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey will produce for Temple Hill, with Scott Glassgold’s 12:01 Films also attached to produce. Glassgold is on a hot streak in horror; he’s currently attached to produce Siren Head and Cartoon Cat to Warner Bros. and Sony, respectively, and Drew Hancock’s Seasons for Amazon MGM Studios.
Avery was previously set to helm alien abduction horror movie They Found Us for Temple Hill.