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Pulse-Pounding Trailer For African Sex-Thriller ‘Sleeper’s Wake’
Our friends at Twitch caught wind of a new sexual thriller that’s said to be extremely good.
Adapted from an acclaimed novel, a trailer, one-sheet and first stills have been released for Barry Berk’s African Sleeper’s Wake.
In the film, “John Wraith regains consciousness in hospital. His mind awash with drugs and amnesia. A huge centipede of a scar spread across his forehead. From a motorcar accident in which his wife and daughter died. Because he fell asleep at the wheel.
To heal and find solace he goes to Nature’s Cove, a wild, unspoilt coastal settlement in South Africa, where most of the holiday homes are boarded up and eerily empty over the winter months. It is there that John comes across a 17 year-old girl, Jackie, weeping softly in a boat outside a chalet. He endeavours to help her but she turns on him, blackmailing him, wanting money or she’ll tell everyone that he tried to rape her. That night the young girl’s father, Roelf, comes to apologise for his daughter’s behaviour. He tells John that Jackie’s been struggling since her mother was murdered in front of her during a vicious robbery at their home.
Despite Jackie’s father’s watchful eye and the ominous presence of Dirk, a gun-toting security guard who wants Jackie to marry him, John and Jackie are drawn inexorably toward one another; he the middle-aged grieving widow, she the Lolita, wise beyond her years, united in their grief and guilt for the death of a loved one.”
The film is about to premiere at the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa.
We have an exclusive first look at A Man in the Woods With an Axe, a blood-soaked, genre-twisting homage to 1980s slasher films.
Spanning four decades, A Man in the Woods With an Axe begins in the summer of 1987 before pushing into the modern era, weaving together timelines and perspectives in a way that builds both dread and intrigue.
Drawing inspiration from genre standouts like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, Hatchet, and The Cabin in the Woods, the film blends visceral horror with moments of dark humor, creating a uniquely balanced experience that honors tradition while carving its own identity.
Writer-director Dillon Brown (Primal Darkness) aims to deliver everything fans crave from a slasher while boldly subverting expectations with a mid-film twist that redefines the story.
“This is an unapologetic love letter to the films that made me fall in love with horror,” Brown tells Bloody Disgusting. “But I didn’t just want to recreate that feeling; I wanted to challenge it. About halfway through, the film takes a turn that completely changes how you view not only this story, but the genre itself.”
Brown describes the vintage-inspired production as “far and away the bloodiest film I’ve ever made,” with practical effects helmed by Cody Ruch (The Mill, Pig Hill), an instructor at Tom Savini’s Special Make-Up Effects Program.
From Horror Dadz Productions, A Man in the Woods With an Axe is currently in production and targeting an early 2027 release.
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