A couple months ago, the Shudder streaming service announced that they would be releasing the survival thriller Quicksand in the US, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand on June 23rd… but those plans have now changed. Quicksand‘s has moved back to July 14th, while June 23rd will see the Shudder release of the creature feature Unwelcome.
Directed by Andrés Beltrán (MalaYerba) from a screenplay by Matt Pitts (Fringe), Quicksand stars Carolina Gaitán, who provided the voice of Pepa in Disney’s Encanto, and Allan Hawco of Jack Ryan. The English-language thriller was filmed in the Colombian capital Bogota and tells the story of a married couple on the brink of divorce who become trapped in quicksand while hiking through a Colombian rainforest. It’s a struggle for survival as they battle the elements of the jungle and must work together in order to escape.
Quicksand was produced by Sangre Films, a joint venture between Elemental Stories, 222 Pictures, and Dawn’s Light Movies. The individual producers are Jason Cherubini of Dawn’s Light Media, Nicolas Reyes of Elemental Stories, and Sean Patrick Burke of 222 Pictures. Richard Switzer, Martin Ramos, John Harris, and Kris Meyer serve as executive producers.
As for the movie that’s taking the June release date that formerly belonged to Quicksand, director Jon Wright’s Unwelcome was originally announced under the title The Little People and described as “Gremlins meets Straw Dogs“, Unwelcome stars Hannah John-Kamen of Ant-Man and the Wasp, the Netflix series The Stranger, and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City). The film centers on a couple who decide to up sticks, escape from city life and head for the tranquility of rural Ireland after Jamie inherits a country house there. Unfortunately, their search for peace doesn’t quite go to plan – getting on the wrong side of some less-than-welcoming locals, and soon discovering there are malevolent, murderous goblins lurking in the ancient wood at the bottom of their garden.
John-Kamen is joined in the cast by Douglas Booth, Colm Meaney, Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Chris Walley, and Kristian Nairn.
Unwelcome is a Tempo Production in association with Automatik VFX. The film was funded by Ingenious Media and produced by Piers Tempest and Peter Touche. Janine Modder, Matt Williams, Jamie Jessop, Andrea Scarso, Michael Reuter, Seb Barker, Doris Pfardrescher, Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder of Cornerstone Films, and Tempo’s Jo Bamford all serve as executive producers.
Will you be watching Unwelcome and/or Quicksand on Shudder? Share your thoughts on these films by leaving a comment below. I’m looking forward to watching both of them.