David Farnor | On 21, Aug 2020

Shudder has snapped up a trio of female-led horrors from Fantasia Film Festival.

The Canadian event, which is unfolding online this year during the coronavirus pandemic, is running into September with a series of streaming premieres geo-locked for viewers in its home country. But that hasn’t stopped AMC’s subscription horror service from being in attendance, picking up the global rights to three movies: Lucky, Slaxx and Hunted.

Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted and Elza Kephart’s Slaxx will have their world premieres at the festival, while Natasha Kermani’s Lucky – previously set to premiere at the canceled SXSW festival — will celebrate its international premiere.

Putting a fresh spin on the home invasion subgenre, Lucky stars Brea Grant (After Midnight, Heroes) who also penned the script directed by Kermani, whose previous credits include the festival darling Imitation Girl. The surreal feminist thriller follows a self-help book author who suddenly finds herself stalked by an elusive and dangerous man and becomes caught in a struggle to regain control over her life.

The outrageous horror-comedy Slaxx is the third feature from Canadian director Elza Kephart, who co-wrote with Patricia Gomez Zlatar, and stars Romane Denis (Slut in a Good Way). A possessed pair of jeans is brought to life to punish the unscrupulous practices of a trendy clothing company. Shipped to the company’s flagship store, Slaxx proceeds to wreak carnage on staff locked in overnight to set up the new collection.

Directed by acclaimed French filmmaker and comic artist Vincent Paronnaud, co-director of Cannes Jury Prize and Academy Award nominee Persepolis, and co-written by him and Léa Pernollet, Hunted is an exhilarating, transcendent take on survival horror that blends primal violence with the timeless quality of myth and fairytale. The film stars Lucie Debay (The Confession) as Eve, a woman who encounters a seemingly charming man (Arieh Worthalter, Girl) at a bar, only to uncover his true sociopathic nature, sparking a dire, life-or-death chase through the wilderness.

“Fantasia is one of the world’s top showcases for genre cinema, and in a challenging year for all festivals, they’ve done an impeccable job programming a bold lineup that we’re excited to be a part of. We’re also thrilled to be working with the talented filmmakers behind LUCKY, SLAXX and HUNTED, and we look forward to sharing their movies with our members around the world early next year,” said Craig Engler, Shudder’s General Manager.

“Brea and I are thrilled to be releasing LUCKY with Shudder,” said Natasha Kermani. We love Shudder’s curation and their commitment to finding unique, conversation-starting genre films and filmmakers, and know that LUCKY will have a great home with the Shudder community. The film is a surreal and satirical genre story with real-life horrors just below the surface, and after a very crazy year, we can’t wait to share it with the world in 2021. We couldn’t be happier to be joining the Shudder family!”

“I’m so thrilled that SLAXX will be part of the Shudder line up!”, said Elza Kephart. “I remember when Shudder began, hoping one day my films would be part of its great horror family. Now it is!”

Shudder has acquired all rights to all three films in the UK, Ireland, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

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