Canadian filmmaker Vincenzo Natali’s latest surreal offering, the “reverse ghost story” HAUNTER, had its debut on Saturday night at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin. Evidently the film’s spooky charms worked the venue over, as IFC has swooped in and acquired it for North American distribution.
HAUNTER will be part of the network’s popular IFC Midnight label; it will likely premiere on VOD before heading to a limited run in theaters. No date has been set.
Starring Abigail Breslin, Stephen McHattie, Peter Outerbridge, Michelle Nolden and David Hewlett, HAUNTER has the following synopsis:
Teenage Lisa (Breslin) and her family died in 1986 under sinister circumstances but remain trapped in their house, unable to move on. Lisa must reach out from beyond the grave to help her present-day, living counterpart, Olivia, avoid the same fate Lisa and her family suffered.
“‘Haunter’ vividly demonstrates that even ghosts have a lot to be afraid of. Brian King’s script constructs a Borgian Labyrinth out of the most mundane settings and shows us how even in our everyday lives, we are spirits living in the material world,” said Natali about his project.
We’ll scare up further release details when we can.
HAUNTER’s Michelle Nolden