Maple Leaf Films to finance John Swetnam’s Spectrum

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

In the final moments of this year's Cannes Film Festival, INTO THE STORM writer John Swetnam secured financing for his directorial effort SPECTRUM, with Tove Christensen and Michael Wexler of Maple Leaf Films agreeing to produce and fund the project.

The screenplay for SPECTRUM was written by Lex Edness, based on a story by Swetnam:

After inventing a technology that not only proves the existence of ghosts but can actually see them, a renowned scientist does a final experiment on a human test subject that goes horribly wrong. Decades later, when his son and a group of colleagues discover the secret high-tech laboratory where the experiment took place, they find themselves battling a vengeful force.

Swetnam had this to say about his sci-fi thriller – 

"Everyone from the Greeks to the Aztecs to Thomas Edison tried to glimpse into the next world. Our film will explore this age-old curiosity but with a unique sci-fi lens: What if all those stories we heard as kids were true and we actually had the technology to prove that there’s something else out there? Spectrum will show us that some things are better left unknown."

Some of the greatest horror stories ever told have dealt with men of science on ill-fated quests, and I always welcome new variations on the set-up. SPECTRUM's synopsis and Swetnam's words have me sold on his take as of now, I'm curious what he and his ghost viewer have to show me.

INTO THE STORM's Sarah Wayne Callies