Right before J-horror became pop culture, I was obsessing over Ryuhei Kitamura‘s action-packed Japanese zombie film, Versus. He soon went on to direct Alive, Godzilla: Final Wars, and even Lionsgate’s Clive Barker adaptation of The Midnight Meat Train and WWE’s slasher No One Lives.
After being announced as part of TIFF’s Midnight Madness lineup, Eleven Arts shares this first trailer for Kitamura’s next, Downrange, a “terrifying” new thriller starring newcomer Kelly Connaire, Stephanie Pearson (Insidious: Chapter 2), Rod Hernandez-Farella, Anthony Kirlew, Alexa Yeames (The CW’s The Originals), and Jason Tobias (ABC Television’s Notorious).
In the film, “Six college students are carpooling cross-country when one of their tires blows out on a desolate stretch of country road. Getting out to fix the flat, they quickly discover that this was no accident. The tire was shot out. With their vehicle incapacitated, the group is pinned down and mercilessly attacked by an unseen assailant as they desperately attempt to find a way to escape.”
The trailer is a throwback to 70’s thrillers and ironically is similar to Mickey Keating’s Sundance hit Carnage Park. The difference, however, is how grim Downrange looks from the violence to the death count. The trailer is a bit spoiler-heavy as you’ll see brains hitting the hot pavement but it looks like a wild ride that’s not to be missed.
Produced by Kitamura and Eleven Arts’ Ko Mori (Lords of Chaos, Man From Reno, Uzumasa Limelight), the film is executive produced by Taro Maki (In This Corner of the World). Screenplay is by Joey O’Bryan (Motorway, Fulltime Killer), with a story by O’Bryan and Kitamura.
“While I’ve created single location films in the past, Downrange marks a new style of storytelling for me, wherein sustained, breathless terror in a singular location is what drives the entire plot, “Kitamura explained. “We’ve crafted a film in which is fueled by relentless dread, and are very excited to share it with horror and suspense fans around the world.”
Kitamura is said to have unleashed an uncompromising vision with Downrange, creating a minimalist thriller with maximum tension. His filmmaking is as stylish as ever but leaner and meaner than ever before.
Downrange is currently scheduled to be released in early 2018.
