Movies
Dekanalog Chews Up U.S. Distribution for Cannibal Horror ‘Dachra’
Gotham-based distributor Dekanalog has secured U.S. rights to Dachra, which won the coveted ‘scariest film’ award at Overlook Film Festival, reports Deadline.
Tunisian director Abdelhamid Bouchnak’s horror pic is based on a true story and follows a group of students who become trapped in an isolated village while trying to solve a 25-year-old murder case.
“Set against the backdrop of contemporary Tunisia, the feature revolves around female journalism student Yasmin and two male classmates who set out on a university assignment to solve the cold case of Mongia, a woman found mutilated 25 years ago and now imprisoned in an asylum, suspected of witchcraft.
“As they pursue their investigation, the three friends stumble into the archaic and ominous world of Dachra, an isolated countryside compound filled with goats, silent women, mysterious drying meat and steaming pots, which is home to a cult.
“When the cult’s jovial but menacing leader invites them to stay overnight, Yasmin is drawn into Dachra’s dark secrets and a desperate attempt to escape alive.”
“Witchcraft has always been my biggest fear and with Dachra I wanted to show how dark the human soul can be,” Bouchnak explained in a press release obtained by ScreenDaily (Sept. 2018).
Explained the site: “Bouchnak plays with the contrast between Tunisia’s image as one of the most liberal and modern countries in the Arab world and deeper primitive fears of witchcraft and cannibalism.”
The young cast features Yassmine Dimassi, Aziz Jebali and Bilel Slatnia in the co-starring roles. Here’s a previously-released international trailer.
Movies
Christopher Landon to Helm Feature Adaptation of Grady Hendrix’s ‘The Final Girl Support Group’
A new feature adaptation of author Grady Hendrix‘s slasher book The Final Girl Support Group is now on the way from Paramount Pictures, and Deadline reports that it’s found its director in Christopher Landon (Drop, Happy Death Day).
The two previously collaborated on My Best Friend’s Exorcism.
In The Final Girl Support Group, “Lynette is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece.”
“But the thing about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.”
I wrote in my novel review for BD, “Hendrix puts his characters through the absolute wringer. It’s a bloody, vicious voyage for the flawed heroine, both physically and emotionally. In terms of action and horror, Support Group delivers breakneck pacing and thrills.”
Five years ago, Andy Muschietti & Barbara Muschietti (Mama, It, It Chapter Two) were attached to produce a planned series adaptation for HBO Max alongside Charlize Theron. While Theron is no longer producing, the Muschiettis remain on board under their Double Dream label.
Paramount Pictures is also developing Hendrix’s sci-fi novella, BadAsstronauts.
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