Movies
IFC Nabs Eli Roth-Produced ‘The Stranger’
Announced last year, Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin fever, The Green Inferno) and Nicolás López (Aftershock) produced a new indie horror that premiered at the Fantastic Fest film festival in Austin, Texas.
IFC Midnight has just now acquired Guillermo Amoedo’s The Stranger, which stars Luis Gnecco, Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, and Aaron Burns.
Amoedo shows a deft ability to turn a bloodthirsty monster movie on its head, into a slow-burn, character-driven film. THE STRANGER takes its time, building the tension through occasional flashbacks and having the audience sympathize with Peter, who grew up not knowing his father. Peter, like the audience, is kept largely in the dark about his father’s motives or even what he is… because he’s certainly not human. What is apparent is the chaos his dad’s return has on the small town, especially a member of the police force and his violence-prone son.
THE STRANGER is ultimately about family, the legacy we pass on to our children and the lengths we go to protect and ensure their survival, no matter how dark and deadly they might become. (James Shapiro)
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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