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Dark Sky Films has acquired the North American distribution rights to the folk horror film Blood Shine, Variety has learned.
It will be released later this year following a successful festival run that included FrightFest London, Sitges Film Festival, and Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.
Brendan Sexton III (Session 9), Emily Bennett (Shelby Oaks), David Call (Insidious: The Red Door), Larry Fessenden (You’re Next), and Toby Poser (Hellbender) star.
It follows Brighton West (Call), a troubled horror filmmaker who retreats to upstate New York to complete his screenplay. He encounters Clara (Bennett), a devout zealot who worships the light through solitary, sacred rituals, and becomes entangled in her increasingly extreme spiritual practices.
Convinced that her sadistic ceremonies will transform him into a god, Clara draws Brighton into a hallucinatory descent into faith, flesh, and the sublime.
Bennet and Justin Brooks, the husband-and-wife duo behind Along with You, co-write and co-direct. Brian Spears (Smile 2, “American Horror Story”) provides the film’s gore effects.
Producers include Aaron B. Koontz via Paper Street Pictures (Shelby Oaks, Scare Package) and Alexander Schepsman, Garrett Fennelly and Zeus Kontoyannis via Zeus Pictures.
Ashleigh Snead and Cameron Burns serve as co-producers for Paper Street. Michael McFadden, G. Riley Mills, and Matt Sullivan executive produce.
“Blood Shine is a film that balances an arthouse sensibility with extremely visceral horror, and Dark Sky Films immediately understood that,” said Bennett and Brooks. “We’re incredibly excited to partner with them to unleash this bloody folk horror film to worldwide audiences.”
“We are thrilled to bring Blood Shine to North American audiences,” added Dark Sky executive vice president Greg Newman. “Emily Bennett and Justin Brooks have created a daring and visually arresting film that expands the boundaries of folk horror and really delivers.”
Dark Sky’s sales division, MPI Media Group, is representing additional international territories at this year’s European Film Market in Berlin.
