U.K.-based sales and distribution company Blue Finch Films has picked up worldwide sales rights, excluding Canada, to \u201cUnholy Night,\u201d a holiday horror feature marking the directorial debut of Michael Gabriele.<\/p>\n
The film recently completed production in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, and Blue Finch will launch sales at Berlin\u2019s European Film Market.<\/p>\n
The festive horror centers on Gino, whose traditional Italian family Christmas Eve celebration descends into chaos when his deceased grandmother returns from the dead and embarks on a killing spree. As more dead relatives begin appearing throughout the neighborhood, Gino must find a way to eliminate the holiday revenants and make it through the family gathering alive.<\/p>\n
Gabriele, whose award-winning short films include \u201cGet Away,\u201d wrote the screenplay and produced the project with Jenna MacMillan of Club Red Productions (\u201cThe Snake,\u201d \u201cWho\u2019s Yer Father?\u201d) and Jason Levangie and Marc Tetreault of Shut Up & Colour Pictures (\u201cSharp Corner,\u201d \u201cKids vs Aliens\u201d). Executive producers are Tina Carbone, Jef Burnham, Mike Chapman and Fatima Hayward.<\/p>\n
Popular on Variety<\/p>\n
The cast is led by Marc Bendavid (\u201cDark Matter,\u201d \u201cReacher\u201d) and Shailene Garnett (\u201cFire Country,\u201d \u201cDiggstown\u201d), with supporting performances from Al Sapienza (\u201cThe Sopranos,\u201d \u201cHouse of Cards\u201d), Ron Lea (\u201cThe Recruit,\u201d \u201cOrphan Black\u201d), Toni Ellwand (\u201cMafia Inc.\u201d), Cristina Rosato (\u201cMother!,\u201d \u201cAssassin\u2019s Creed\u201d), Jaqueline Robbins (\u201cThe Monkey\u201d) and Joe Pingue (\u201cStation Eleven,\u201d \u201cStar Trek: Section 31\u201d).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know holiday family gatherings can feel like a survival horror, but Unholy Night takes that relatable tension to an extreme,\u201d Gabriele said. \u201cGrowing up in my Italian family, Christmas Eve was always a huge event that was loud and full of love, but also incredibly intense. I wanted to take those real pressures we all feel with family and combine them into a visceral, festive nightmare. Audiences can expect a violent ride that is hilarious, heartfelt, and frightening \u2013 as it explores the burden of family traditions and overcoming regret \u2013 amidst total chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike Chapman of Blue Finch Films added: \u201c\u2018Unholy Night\u2019 is an impressive debut from Michael, taking the idea of unwanted family guests for Christmas to a whole new level. Mixing bold horror, dark humour, and heart, he has created a seasonal slam dunk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blue Finch\u2019s current international slate includes Rotterdam-selected horror \u201cBowels Of Hell,\u201d SXSW-selected sci-fi thriller \u201cImposters\u201d and \u201cDolly,\u201d which premiered at Fantastic Fest and will be released by IFC and Shudder this year.<\/p>\n
Source: RhinoEasy News<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" U.K.-based sales and distribution company Blue Finch Films has picked up worldwide sales rights, excluding Canada, to \u201cUnholy Night,\u201d a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":907,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rhinoeasy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}