The second film acquired by Eli Roth’s The Horror Section is a low-budget, found footage nightmare that has taken horror festivals by storm.
“Dream Eater,” co-written and co-directed by Jay Drakulic, Mallory Drumm and Alex Lee Williams and starring Williams and Drumm, is set to debut theatrically on Oct. 24.
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Per the official logline, “The story follows Mallory (Drumm), a documentary filmmaker, who heads to a remote cabin in the mountains with her boyfriend Alex (Williams) to document his violent parasomnia. As his condition worsens, Mallory suspects something more sinister may be at play. As the nightmares escalate, so do the scares, right through the final frame.”
“I vividly remember every movie that truly terrified me,” Eli Roth, founder and chief creative officer of The Horror Section, said in a statement. “I remember standing on 25th street in New York City when my friend Kevin Foxe handed me a VHS of a film he had produced, which had just gotten into Sundance, called ‘The Blair Witch Project,’ and that night I had to sleep with the lights on. I remember watching a screener of ‘Paranormal Activity’ during the filming of ‘Inglourious Basterds’ in my apartment in Berlin, and I was so freaked out that I had to give it to Quentin [Tarantino] to traumatize him as well. And then there was ‘Dream Eater,’ watching this movie alone, in my house, and turning on the lights because it was that scary. It has been so long since I have been truly terrified by a film to such a degree that I had almost forgotten what it felt like.
“What these three filmmakers have pulled is not just remarkable on a low-budget DIY filmmaking level; they achieve the holy grail of horror, which is to make a movie that absolutely terrifies you,” Roth continued. “I was so blown away that I sent the film to everyone at The Horror Section, and we all agreed that this is ‘the one.’ I believe ‘Dream Eater’ will be the scariest film of the year and truly has the potential to break out to be the next ‘Paranormal Activity’ or ‘The Blair Witch Project.’ I don’t want to over-describe it; the film speaks for itself. I cannot wait to see this in a dark theater with a packed audience hiding under their seats.”
“Dream Eater” is the second feature from Drakulic, Drumm and Williams, a Canadian trio that makes up the Blind Luck Pictures banner. The film gained buzz online through #HorrorTok and strong festival showings, including winning best feature at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland, Ore.
“We were tired of waiting for permission to make our next film, so we put everything on the line and did it ourselves with the help of a small but mighty crew deep in the snowy Laurentian mountains,” the trio said in a statement. “To now be joining forces with the master of horror himself, Eli Roth, and the incredible team at The Horror Section to bring ‘Dream Eater’ to audiences worldwide is beyond a dream come true… It’s a nightmare realized – in the best possible way.”
The film was executive produced and financed by Vortex Media, which will also handle Canadian distribution. The deal was negotiated by Jon Schnaars and Connor DiGregorio on behalf of The Horror Section, with Justin Rebelo and Bill Marks representing Vortex Media.
“I’m very happy to see our second film with the talented filmmakers at Blind Luck find a champion with Eli Roth’s The Horror Section,” said Bill Marks, executive chairman of Vortex Media, in a statement. “It’s the kind of bold, genre-defining work we aim to support, and we’re excited to bring it to Canadian audiences.”
“Dream Eater” is The Horror Section’s second acquisition after Joe Begos’ gory alien freakout “Jimmy & Stiggs,” which is set to release theatrically on Aug. 15.
Watch the “Dream Eater” trailer and see the poster below.
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