Genre distributor Terror Films has unveiled its 2016 slate, which includes the horror anthology “Patient Seven,” a documentary on the making of Stephen King‘s “Pet Sematary” and a trio of haunted house movies, TheWrap has learned.
“Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary” is a documentary that includes interviews with the director and cast of the classic horror movie as well as never-before-seen footage from the set in Maine.
“Patient Seven” is an original horror anthology that follows seven patients in a mental hospital. The cast includes Michael Ironside (“Total Recall”) and Jack Plotnick (“Reno 911”), with segments starring Amy Smart (“Just Friends”) and Alfie Allen (“Game of Thrones”).
Terror Films recently acquired U.S. DVD rights to the thriller “Landmine Goes Click,” which follows three Americans backpacking through the overseas countryside of Georgia, who soon find themselves being terrorized by a town local. The film stars Sterling Knight (“Melissa & Joey”), Spencer Locke (“Resident Evil” franchise) and Dean Geyer (“Glee”).
The slate also includes three haunted house films — “House of Purgatory” starring Brian Krause (“Charmed”), the docu-style film “Hell House LLC” and “The House on Pine Street,” which Terror Films is co-distributing in the U.S., with Raven Banner handling Canada and the rest of the world.
“What makes what we are doing at Terror Films so exciting is our ability to be flexible and come up with the best possible release strategy for each film. We have a very successful model on our hands and we look forward to growing the label into a serious player in the distribution game,” said CEO Peter Schafer.
Joe Dain, Terror Films’ executive in charge of production, attributes the company’s growth to several factors. “We went into this with our eyes wide open. We studied the market, we paid attention to what the other mid-level distributors were doing and we avoided their same mistakes. The reason most of the major platforms are paying attention to us is based on a few things. First, we only distribute horror films. Secondly, we are only releasing about 7 to 10 titles per year. By doing so, it gives us a real opportunity to truly support each film before we take it to the market. That support includes a guaranteed marketing commitment for every film. We are building a brand, we are not simply trying to flood the market with more horror content.”
In addition to attending markets such as AFM, the aggressive genre label also travels the country attending and sponsoring many of the horror/genre film festivals, such as Screamfest, Fear Fete, Telluride Horror Show and the Atlanta and New Orleans Horror Film Festivals.
Terror Films has been able to place their titles with almost every major ancillary platform, including iTunes, Netflix, Vimeo on Demand, Redbox, Best Buy, Family Video, Amazon, Google Play and most of the major cable VOD outlets. The company intends to support its first limited theatrical release for “Patient Seven,” which is currently scheduled for a mid-2016 release.
Jeffrey Giles and Michael Lurie of Automatic Entertainment serve as the official foreign sales arm for the Terror Films, which launched with “The Chosen” starring YouTube sensation Kian Lawley. The company’s second original film was the paranormal thriller “Trace” starring August Roads (MTV’s “Faking It”), which opened in an exclusive DVD release with Redbox, followed by a wide release into all major VOD and SVOD platforms via Terror’s co-distribution partner Gravitas Ventures.