Heading into Fantastic Fest ahead of it’s theatrical release is Kevin Phillips’ teenage nightmare Super Dark Times, which was actually penned by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, who wrote our V/H/S spinoff SiREN.
I raved about the psychological thriller, explaining that “Super Dark Times is tragedy in its purest of forms, removing the safety blanket from suburbia, tormenting the town with a morbid tale that will leave scars on each and every person who lives there. It’s an authentic, honest and emotional experience that could be this generation’s Mean Creekor Donnie Darko.”
The Orchard is putting it in select NY/LA theaters on September 29th with a full VOD release slated for October 3rd.
The film follows teenagers Zach and Josh, who have been best friends their whole lives, but when a gruesome accident leads to a cover-up, the secret drives a wedge between them and propels them down a rabbit hole of escalating paranoia and violence.
This atmospheric ‘90s-set mystery-thriller stars Owen Campbell (“The Americans”), Charlie Tahan (“Wayward Pines”, “The Ozark”), with Amy Hargreaves (13 Reasons Why), Max Talisman (Orange is the New Black), Elizabeth Cappuccino (Jessica Jones), and Sawyer Barth (Public Morals).
“There was a time when the screenwriters [Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski] and I referred to the film’s genre as ‘nostalgia horror,’ but we moved away from that label,” Phillips told EW, noting that the story is set in 1995 suburbia. “We were hoping to utilize ideas of nostalgia but dive a bit deeper and create a situation that audiences could relate to and hopefully be a bit hypnotized by.”
