UK genre specialist Jinga Films has sold three of its titles to North America in deals closed at the Cannes Marché, reports ScreenDaily.
Padraig Reynolds’ supernatural horror Worry Dolls (exclusive trailer premiere) has been picked up by IFC Midnight, which in recent years has handled the US releases of horror films including Can Evrenol’s Baskin and Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook.
Starring Christopher Wiehl (Jericho), Kym Jackson (Iron Sky) and Samantha Smith (Transformers), the film follows a detective racing against the clock to save his eight-year-old daughter from a voodoo curse. IFC previously released director Reynolds’ debut feature Rites of Spring.
Jinga has also sold Ruth Platt’s thriller The Lesson (review) to Shout! Factory. Starring Robert Hands (Shine), Evan Bendall, Michaela Prchalova and Tom Cox, the film follows a bullied school teacher who has a mental breakdown, resulting in a terrifying act of revenge on his students.
“The Lesson is an impressive debut feature for Ruth Platt, featuring solid performances and one or two cringe-inducing moments of violence,” Trace said in his review. “While it may not hit all the right beats you would like it to, it’s still a better-than-average torture film with a story to tell that doesn’t delve too far into “torture porn” territory.”
Rounding off the trio of sales is Benjamin R Moody’s slasher Last Girl Standing (review), which has been picked up by MPI/Dark Sky Films.
“‘Last Girl Standing’ is a captivating depiction of survivor’s guilt and post-traumatic stress, and a very entertaining movie if you don’t mind focusing more on emotion than the kill count,” Luiz said in his review.
Starring Akasha Villalobos as the sole survivor of a bloody massacre, the film follows her struggle to reclaim her shattered life.
Jinga and MPI/Dark Sky Films previously struck a deal earlier this year at Berlin’s EFM for romantic zombie comedy Night Of The Living Deb.
