Back in July of 2021, it was announced that V/H/S and Southbound filmmakers Roxanne Benjamin and David Bruckner were teaming up again for the survival thriller Fall Into Darkness, a remake of the 2014 Spanish-language film La Cueva. Benjamin would be directing the film, working from a screenplay Bruckner wrote with Nick Tecosky. Nell Tiger Free (Servant), Thomas Doherty (Legacies), and Lorenza Izzo (The Green Inferno) were all signed on to star. Filming was expected to begin at Lantica’s Pinewood Studios in the Dominican Republic in the fall of ’21. But Fall Into Darkness never went into production. And during a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Free theorized that it fell apart due to the pandemic.
When asked for a status update on the project, Free replied, “I think Fall Into Darkness became a victim to Covid. You know how things were. There were so many beautiful projects that were potentially going to happen, and then things got taken away because of timing and Covid. So I think that might have been what went wrong there, but never say never. If it resurfaces and the time is right and all the original people are available, then I’m sure we’d all saddle up and do that movie.“
It’s kind of surprising to hear that the pandemic was still ruining movie plans after July 2021, since a lot of productions had figured out how to work in the Covid era by then. But here’s hoping that Fall Into Darkness will happen someday.
Described as “an elevated Lord of the Flies tale”, Fall Into Darkness would have centered on American backpackers stranded with locals in a vast cave system in Dominican Republic.
Directed by Alfredo Montero from a screenplay he wrote with Havier Gullon, La Cueva (also known as In Darkness We Fall) had the following synopsis: Five friends have decided to set out on a vacation to the beautiful island of Formentera, where they expect to spend their days full of fun and debauchery. On one of their outings they come across a cave set in a cliff and decided that it would be exciting to investigate it and see what they could find. However it isn’t long before the group realizes that they have lost their way, prompting them to try to find the exit instead of exploring further. Unfortunately they are unsuccessful in their attempt and are forced to stay the night and as a result they find their sanity weakening. As the lack of food, water, and sunlight paired with the isolation from society due to a lack of cell phone reception begins to take its toll on the group, they find themselves beginning to panic and hallucinate. Eventually their survival will rely on them making certain decisions that will change them forever.
Bruckner and Tecosky developed the story for the remake with executive producers Pedro Uriol and Juan Gordon of Morena Films. Bruckner was an executive producer on the project, along with Connie Hoy and Blue Ridge Media Capital. Fall Into Darkness was being produced by Peter Block of A Bigger Boat and Zak Kilberg of Social Construct.
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