Movies
Shudder Acquires Spanish Horror-Thriller ‘Vieja Loca’ from Producer J.A. Bayona
Shudder has acquired the rights to Vieja Loca — English translation: Crazy Old Lady — in North America, UK, Australia, and New Zealand, Deadline has learned.
In the Spanish-language horror-thriller, a man receives a desperate call from his ex-girlfriend to temporarily care for her senile mother. But the woman won’t let him leave, turning a simple task into a nightmare.
Carmen Maura (Volver, Witching & Bitching) and Daniel Hendler star.
Screenwriter Martín Mauregui makes his feature directorial debut, with filmmaker J.A. Bayona (The Orphanage, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) serving as producer.
“When I began my career with The Orphanage, Guillermo del Toro produced it on one condition: that I would sponsor another director in the future. I loved Mauregui’s script and it’s an opportunity to return to genre cinema, which I love,” Bayona commented.
“I approached the project to lend a hand, but I ended up producing. It was the first film to be shot in Argentina after Javier Milei’s victory and we are very happy to have been able to make this film a reality at such a complicated time for cinema in Argentina.”
The Spanish-Argentine co-production hails from Películas La Trini, Primo Content, Mr Fields and Friends, Bambu Producciones, and La Unión De Los Ríos, with the participation of Amazon España.
Fangoria Studios and Panick Studios are turning horror comic Black Diamond into a film, and Variety reports that Ernest Dickerson (Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight) will direct.
Black Diamond comic book creator Brendan Columbus will write the screenplay.
Black Diamond follows Owen and Victoria Welch on a family ski trip that spirals into a nightmare. When their son is abducted by a mysterious cult, the couple is pushed to the brink and faced with a soul-crushing ultimatum: sacrifice another child or lose their own forever.
The comic book series from Panick Entertainment is described as a “chilling folk horror thriller blending Hitchcockian psychological tension with the dread of The Wicker Man.”
“Black Diamond was my attempt to put everything I love about thrillers on the page,” Columbus tells Variety. “I want to make sure it feels like you physically can’t leave the theater or else you’ll miss the next twist or turn. With his masterful cinematic eye and his great story sense, Ernest is going to scare the hell out of everyone with this one.”
“Black Diamond immediately grabbed me because its horror is rooted in impossible human choices,” says Dickerson. “It taps into parental fear, morality, isolation, and survival in a way that is so unsettling and emotionally real. That combination will make for a very suspenseful and exciting cinematic experience.”
Ernest Dickerson is directing and executive producing the feature film. Black Diamond will notably be Ernest Dickerson’s first feature film as director since Double Play in 2017, though he has in more recent years been directing for an impressive string of television shows including “The Man in the High Castle,” “The Purge,” “Raised by Wolves,” “Bosch,” and “DMZ.”
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