Movies
Hiding a True Monster in ‘Freaks’
Overture has been making a major play in Hollywood over the past few weeks announcing batches of new films from a remake of George Romero’s THE CRAZIES to a remake of the Swedish vampire film LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, which is set to be directed by CLOVERFIELD director Matt Reeves. This evening they’ll be gaining even more fanboys on their side as they’ve set David Gordon Green to direct the horror thriller Freaks of the Heartland, an adaptation of a graphic novel by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night). Read all about it inside.
Overture Films has tapped David Gordon Green to direct the horror thriller “Freaks of the Heartland,” written by freshman scribes Peter Sattler and Geoff Davey. The company recently purchased the rights to the Dark Horse graphic novel written by Steve Niles.
Green and Dark Horse Entertainment president Mike Richardson are producing. Niles, who also wrote “30 Days of Night,” is executive producing.
Illustrated by Greg Ruth, Niles’ six-part 2004 series about the horrible secret of a rural Middle American town involves Trevor Owen’s attempts to protect his “monster” of a 6-year-old younger brother and Gristlewood Valley’s other “freaks” from their parents’ worst instincts.
Overture COO Danny Rosett, who worked with Green on his 2004 film “Undertow” when Rosett was at United Artists, pre-emptively purchased the rights for the company.
Overture continues to accelerate its development of genre material; it has “Pandorum” shooting in Berlin and “The Crazies,” a reinvention of George A. Romero’s 1973 horror film, in development with Breck Eisner attached to direct.
The Liberty Media studio also recently acquired remake rights to the Swedish horror film “Let the Right One In,” which “Cloverfield” director Matt Reeves will write and direct; the Icelandic mystery “Jar City”; and the Israeli comedy “92 Minutes.”
Overture has “Last Chance Harvey” and “Nothing Like the Holidays” releasing before year’s end. “Righteous Kill” was its most recent opening.
Green, who is repped by CAA and the Gotham Group, most recently directed “Pineapple Express” and “Snow Angels.” Gotham also reps Sattler, Davey and Dark Horse. Niles is repped by CAA.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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