Movies
Justin Long & Iris Apatow Will Get ‘Stung’ by ‘Grave Encounters’ Director
Justin Long (Barbarian) and Iris Apatow (Pretty Lethal) are in negotiations to star in the survival thriller Stung, Variety has learned.
Colin Minihan (Grave Encounters, Extraterrestrial) will direct the film, which is currently gearing up for production.
Set against the backdrop of suburban isolation and mounting paranoia, Stung follows four teenage girls whose innocent sleepover spirals into a nightmare when they become trapped inside a luxury Orange County home overtaken by a massive swarm of Africanized killer bees.
Andre Relis (The Recall) and Jib Polhemus (The Expendables 2) will produce. VMI Worldwide is set to introduce the film to worldwide buyers at the Cannes film market, now underway.
“Stung taps into a very primal fear,” said Minihan. “You’re trapped, isolated, and under attack from something unstoppable. But beneath the horror, it’s also a story about friendship, trust, and survival under pressure.”
“We were immediately drawn to the film’s contained intensity and commercial concept,” said Relis and Polhemus. “Colin has a fantastic visual style and a strong command of suspense, and we believe Stung has the potential to become a standout genre title for audiences worldwide.”
Minihan recently directed Long in Coyotes. They’re also set to collaborate on a Grave Encounters reboot.
Iris Apatow in ‘Pretty Lethal’
Before updating the video nasty Faces of Death, director Daniel Goldhaber and writer Isa Mazzei explored the dangers of online life in tech-thriller Cam, their feature debut that was acquired by Netflix in 2018 after making waves on the festival circuit.
At the end of last year, the Netflix exclusive quietly departed from the streaming platform, left without another streaming home.
It’s not an isolated story; Mike Flanagan’s Hush also left streaming entirely for a period until it was finally picked up on both physical media and other streaming services.
While the tech-thriller currently isn’t available to watch on Netflix, Tubi, Hulu, or any other platforms, that’s not a problem for Cam thanks to a very cool move by Goldhaber: the director has made his breakout film accessible to watch online for free via his website.
As his site notes: “CAM is unfortunately not currently available to view on any platforms, so you can watch it here if you like :).“
No subscriptions or fees necessary, just hit play.
Cam follows Alice (Madeline Brewer), who works as an online cam girl obsessed with her ranking on the cam site. The higher her ranking goes, the more it draws unwanted attention, and Alice soon finds herself replaced on her own show with a doppelganger.
Written by Mazzei, a former camgirl, it uses the horror thriller premise to examine the life of a sex worker; Alice’s career ambition is directly at odds with the shame it brings to her family, and how she tries to spare them from it by keeping them in the dark. It only compounds her danger when the doppelganger enters the equation in Goldhaber’s engaging thriller.
For a deep dive into the treacherous world of Cam, listen to Horror Queers’ episode on it now.
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