The Damning of a Country Merchant: Mackenzie Davis, Peter Sarsgaard star in 1910 horror film

Just two weeks ago, it was announced that Mackenzie Davis – whose credits include Terminator: Dark Fate, Blade Runner 2049, Black Mirror, Halt and Catch Fire, and Station Eleven – had joined the cast of the Blumhouse thriller Speak No Evil, a remake of a Danish film called Gæsterne. Now Deadline reports that Davis has another genre film in the works: a “twisted horror” film called The Damning of a Country Merchant. Davis will be starring in the film alongside Peter Sarsgaard of The Batman.

Matthew Rosenbaum has written the screenplay and will be making his feature directorial debut with The Damning of a Country Merchant, which is set in 1910 Indiana and centers on the patriarch of a rural mercantile family (Sarsgaard) whose way of life is suddenly disrupted by a charismatic industrialist who has entered into a secret affair with his wife (Davis). When rising tensions mistakenly lead to the death of a customer, his wounded authority and masculinity leave him vulnerable to truly bizarre and horrific forces causing unimaginable chaos and terror.

This project is coming our way from Anonymous Content, Two Independent Eyes, and Anti-Worlds. Lemming Film is co-producing. The film is being produced by Christian Hall of Two Independent Eyes, Eric Cook and Andy Starke of Anti-Worlds, and Reuben Walker and David Levine of Anonymous Content. Pulsar Content, XYZ Films, UTA Independent Film Group, and CAA Media Finance will be presenting it to potential distributions at the Cannes Film Festival.

Despite the Indiana setting, The Damning of a Country Merchant will be filming in Belgium.

Pulsar co-founders Gilles Sousa and Marie Garrett provided the following statement: “We are thrilled to announce our first feature with Peter Sarsgaard and Mackenzie Davis. It’s also a great opportunity to partner up again with XYZ Films, UTA Independent Film Group, and CAA Media Finance on this first feature which, we’re sure, will fit the international audience. The script is totally unique and will take the audience to an unexpected place.“

Deadline notes that Rosenbaum “is known for his interdisciplinary practice, which spans painting, photography, and film. His work often explores strong themes of mysticism with psychology.” While working on The Damning of a Country Merchant, he’s also developing a series called Tongue of Opal, which is said to be “a mischievous tale about a grifter who finds herself embroiled in the world of spiritualism in New York City in the 1920s.“

As someone with personal ties to Indiana, I was hoping to hear that The Damning of a Country Merchant would be filming in the state it’s set in, but I look forward to seeing how it turns out regardless.

Does The Damning of a Country Merchant sound interesting to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.