We’re only a week away from the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival kicking off, but we’ve already seen one major acquisition ahead of a world premiere. Deadline confirms that the Australian slasher The Only One has been acquired by The Coven for international distribution. The movie is the directorial debut of Michael Schwarz and was written by Martyn Pedler and Marek Polgar. The Only One was co-produced by Three777 Films.
According to the outlet, The Only One is “described as an ode to the slashers of the ’80s and ’90s with strong leading women, the film stars Mel Jarnson (Street Fighter) as protagonist Zoe who has returned to her Australian hometown after an unsuccessful attempt to become an actress in L.A. Her homecoming takes a deadly turn when a mysterious ‘prince charming’ starts murdering all her exes. Teaming up with high school best friend Piper (Saphira Moran), the two race to unmask the twisted killer, in a mission that will see Zoe face all the hearts she broke before prince charming is the only one left alive to claim her heart.”
“The Only One taps into the growing appetite for relationship-driven horror films,” Kendall Anlian of The Coven shared about the acquisition. “It’s fresh, smart, and wildly fun, Schwarz directs his first feature like a horror veteran, while Jarnson is an absolute force of charisma and badass energy, we’re lucky to be on board.”
Schwarz added, “The Coven are the newest additions to The Only One family, but it feels like they’ve been with us for the whole journey … I couldn’t be more excited to have them introducing it to the market, and allowing this film to find its true audience.”
One of The Coven’s biggest worldwide releases was Terrifier 3, and they also released Terrifier: The ArtCade Game, their first video game for the brutal slasher franchise. The Coven recently secured rights to distribute the French cannibal movie Sunnyside, the debut feature from Yoann Luis. That film explores a world in which cannibalism is legal, with Luis explaining, “The legalization of cannibalism becomes a provocative metaphor for our relationships of domination, the commodification of bodies, and social and territorial divides.”
Other highly anticipated screenings at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival are Nicky Murphy’s award-winning, vampire mockumentary I Love Paris, which is the opening night movie, while the closing night feature is the drug-fueled action horror Kick On from director Nick Kozakis. There will also be screenings of classics like The Passion of Joan of Arc, The People Under the Stairs, Trick ‘r Treat, and We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.
Tickets to the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival are available on their website.