RLJE Films and the horror streaming service Shudder have acquired the North American rights to “Seance,” a supernatural horror film starring Suki Waterhouse.
“Seance” is the feature-length directorial debut of Simon Barrett, who wrote the acclaimed horror films “You’re Next” and “The Guest.”
The film stars Waterhouse as the new girl at the prestigious Edelvine Academy for Girls. Soon after her arrival, six girls invite her to join them in a late-night ritual, calling forth the spirit of a dead former student who reportedly haunts their halls. But before morning, one of the girls is dead, leaving the others wondering what they may have awakened.
RLJE Films will release “Seance” in theaters, on demand and on digital on May 21, and Shudder will then premiere the film on its platform later this year. Shudder also picked up rights to the film for the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
“Seance” stars Suki Waterhouse (“Assassination Nation,” “The Divergent Series: Insurgent”) alongside Madisen Beaty (“Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Ella-Rae Smith (“Into the Badlands,” “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”), Inanna Sarkis (“Boo 2! A Madea Halloween”), Seamus Patterson (“Channel Zero”) and Marina Stephenson-Kerr (“Channel Zero”).
“I’m thrilled that ‘Seance’ has found a home with RLJE Films and Shudder, who are at the vanguard of releasing unique and original genre films. Both companies clearly respect and understand horror fans, for whom ‘Seance’ was made,” Barrett said.
“Seance” is a Dark Castle Entertainment Production in association with Addictive Pictures. It was funded by Ingenious Media, Dark Castle Entertainment and HanWay Films.
The film was produced by Alex Mace, Matt Baker, John Schoenfelder, Russell Ackerman, Tomas “Dutch” Deckaj and Isaac Clements. The executive producers are Daryl Katz, Chloe Katz, Hal Sadoff of Dark Castle and Peter Watson and Marie-Gabrielle Stewart of HanWay. Additional executive producers include Daniel Negret and Andrea Scarso.
Ward and Jess De Leo from RLJE Films, as well as Emily Gotto from Shudder, negotiated the deal with CAA and Dark Castle Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers for North America, with HanWay Films handling Shudder sales for the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.