Shout! Factory has struck a deal with Kennedy/Brooks to distribute the giallo-inspired horror comedy “The Editor” in the U.S., TheWrap has learned.
Directed and produced by Adam Brooks and Matthew Kennedy, the stylish genre movie premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and is scheduled to play at the San Francisco International Film Festival on May 1.
Brooks and “Boardwalk Empire’s” Paz de la Huerta star alongside Samantha Hill (“Bad Meat”), Tristan Risk (“Dark Continents”) and “The ABCs of Death 2” actors Laurence R. Harvey and Conor Sweeney, as well as genre stalwart Udo Kier (“Blade”) and Kennedy.
A comedic send-up of classic giallo cinema, “The Editor” spins the twisted tale of a once-prolific film editor who becomes the prime suspect in a series of murders haunting a seedy 1970s film studio.
Rey Ciso was once the greatest editor the world had ever seen. Since a horrific accident left him with four wooden fingers on his right hand, he’s had to resort to cutting pulp films and trash pictures. When the lead actors from the film he’s been editing turn up murdered at the studio, Rey is fingered as the number one suspect. The bodies continue to pile up in this absurdist giallo-thriller as Rey struggles to prove his innocence and learns the sinister truth lurking behind the scenes.
Shout! Factory has secured exclusive U.S. distribution rights to “The Editor,” including broadcast, digital, home entertainment and theatrical for cross-platform releases. Shout! Factory plans a strategic rollout for the film on a variety of entertainment distribution platforms and in all packaged media through Shout’s genre label and horror entertainment brand, Scream Factory.
“‘The Editor’ is catnip to horror film geeks and film geeks in general,” said Shout’s associate VP of acquisitions Jordan Fields. “It’s a superbly crafted, maniacal blend of comedy and horror, where the satire is both broad enough to include the casual fan and precise enough to reward the hardcore fan. There’s a reason Astron-6 has such a rabid following, and we’ll do our best to make sure ‘The Editor’ finds the massive audience it deserves.”
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Shout Factory for the release of ‘The Editor.’ Shout has re-released many of the genre classics that have inspired our work, and they continue to give new and intriguing genre films, like ‘The Babadook’ (Shout had home entertainment rights) and ‘The Battery,’ a proper release that will appeal to fans. ‘The Editor’ is our neo-giallo love letter to all things Argento and Fulci, and we feel it will be right at home as part of the Scream Factory catalogue,” filmmakers Kennedy and Brooks said in a joint statement.
Presented by Winnipeg film collective Astron-6, “The Editor” was written by Kennedy, Brooks and Sweeney. Andria Spring served as executive producer, while Jerry Wasserman and Kevin Ascolillo II served as associate producers.
Shout! Factory’s founders are Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos, and the company’s Jordan Fields negotiated the deal with Mette-Marie Katz of XYZ Films.