Magnet Releasing, the genre film arm of Magnolia Pictures, has acquired the North American rights to “Amulet,” a horror film that premiered in the Midnight section at Sundance this past year, the distributor announced Tuesday.
“Amulet” is the feature directorial debut of Romola Garai, an actress turned filmmaker, and it stars Carla Juri, Alec Secareanu, Imelda Staunton and Angeliki Papoulia. Magnet will release the film in theaters and on demand on July 24.
“Amulet” follows Tomaz (Secareanu), a former soldier who is left homeless after an accident and takes refuge in the decaying home of Magda (Juri), a lonely young woman in desperate need of help as she cares for her ailing mother. At first hesitant, Magda soon welcomes Tomaz into their lives. But as he gets closer to and begins to fall for Magda, Tomaz notices strange and unexplainable phenomena. Something seems very wrong with the mysterious old woman who never leaves the top floor, and Tomaz begins to suspect that Magda may in fact be a prisoner to her otherworldly bidding.
“Romola Garai has crafted an intensely atmospheric, edge-of-your-seat thriller with ‘Amulet,’” Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles said in a statement. “We think audiences will be as wigged out as we were.”
“It is such an honour to know that ‘Amulet’ will be distributed by Magnet Releasing and a thrill to see our film’s name alongside their incredibly prestigious body of work. I know that their expertise and great taste will make this the absolute best place for ‘Amulet’ to find its audience,” Garai said in a statement.
Garai both wrote and directed “Amulet,” which was produced by Matthew James Wilkinson of Stigma Films and Maggie Monteith of Northern Stories. Executive producers are Phil Hunt and Compton Ross of Head Gear and Metrol Technology, James Norrie, Bob Portal, Inderpal Singh of AMP International, Damian Jones, Chris Reed, Phil Rymer, Reinhard Besser, Pat Wintersgill and Walter Mair.
The deal was negotiated by Magnolia EVP Dori Begley and Magnolia SVP of acquisitions John Von Thaden with James Norrie and Nina Kolokouri of AMP International and 30WEST on behalf of the filmmakers.
Some of Magnet’s recent releases include Ben Wheatley’s “High-Rise,” Nicolas Pesce’s “The Eyes of My Mother,” Takashi Miike’s 100th film “Blade of the Immortal” and the Swedish sci-fi thriller “Aniara.”