Would you believe this film has been over 10 years in the making?
The whole found footage trend has sort of ran out of gas after Host brought some “screen-life” freshness to the genre. All the tricks and troupes have been done and really the only thing left is to do now is work within the genre to make something scary and polished. Malibu Horror Story might be just that. It will hit North American theaters on October 20.
It comes from the studio who brought you Art the Clown and has some pretty descent talent behind it. You probably won’t recognize their names, but that is also what makes a fun found footage movie; it’s unrecognizable budding talent.
It stars, Dylan Sprayberry (Teen Wolf, Light as a Feather, Sick), Robert Bailey Jr. (Nightshift, Emergence), Valentina de Angelis (Gossip Girl), Rebecca Forsythe (Replace, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit).
Producers say Malibu Horror Story has taken 10 years to complete and is heavily inspired by Paranormal Activity and Cloverfield. Another incredible fact is it uses 30 different cameras and various codecs (that sounds cool, but what is it?)
Malibu Horror Story had a successful festival run around the globe, winning many awards including, Scariest Film (HorrorFest International), Best of Fest, and Best Director (Crimson Screen), the Audience Award for Best Feature and Best of Fest (Firstglance Film Festival) and Best Horror Feature (Atlanta Horror Film Festival).
Director Scott Sloan says of his film: “I am a big fan of the found footage sub-genre and wanted to try and do something different with the format and structure of how a traditional found footage film is presented. Our story is told through different perspectives, timelines, and layers of media that were compiled over several years. The goal was to incorporate all of those elements and place them inside of a conventional horror movie structure that would not only appeal to found footage enthusiasts but to a broader horror audience as well.”
Producer Andrew Williams added, “We are thrilled with the positive reception from fans and critics during our film festival run this past year, and the success has demonstrated that this is a horror movie made to be experienced in theaters, and we couldn’t be happier that we finally found the right partner with Iconic Events Releasing to help us bring it to the big screen.”
The film takes place over ten years in Malibu, California, following the mysterious disappearance of four popular high school boys on graduation night. We follow a team of paranormal investigators as they search a sacred cave in the hills of Malibu for clues to the boys’ disappearance, only to uncover a terrifying truth.
For more information and updates, visit the website.