The Friendship Game trailer: Peyton List horror film coming to theatres and VOD in November

A couple weeks ago, RLJE Films announced that they will be giving the sci-fi horror movie The Friendship Game a theatrical, VOD, and digital release on November 11th. With that date drawing near, a trailer for the film has arrived online and can be seen in the embed above.

Peyton List of Cobra Kai has the lead role in The Friendship Game, which was directed by Scooter Corkle (Hollow in the Land) from a screenplay written by Damien Ober (The OA). The story follows

a group of teens as they come across a strange object that tests their loyalties to each other and has increasingly destructive consequences the deeper into the game they go.

List is joined in the cast by Brendan Meyer (Color Out of Space), Kelcey Mawema (the To All the Boys… franchise), Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Flash), and Dylan Schombing (Warcraft).

The Friendship Game is a Scythia Films production in association with Social Construct. Daniel Bekerman produced, with Zak Kilberg and Tannaz Anisi of 13 Films serving as executive producers.

RLJE Films’ Mark Ward provided the following statement: “The Friendship Game features an incredibly talented young cast lead by rising star Peyton List. We cannot wait for audiences to join this fun, exciting, entertaining thrill-ride of a movie.“

Bekerman added: “We’re very energized to be partnered with RLJE Films on the release of The Friendship Game – this is the kind of film they always rock with. Scooter is a filmmaker to watch and combined with Damien’s mind bending and terrifying script, they took this movie past our wildest expectations. Peyton delivers on a raw and gritty performance in a role unlike anything we have seen from her before. Can’t wait to get the film in front of audiences!“

Corkle had this to say about the movie: “I’ve always approached The Friendship Game as an addition to the Cosmic Horror pantheon as it’s a cerebral genre that explores the intangible madness of self, which is an idea that has always intrigued me. Madness is felt, it’s experienced and personal, so the story comes from within the characters themselves allowing the narrative to be led by internalized fears – accentuated by external pressures. Don’t get me wrong I love a good Creature Feature, but as a filmmaker I’m most interested in the monster within. This idea is what first attracted me to The Friendship Game, and honestly it took a lot of searching to realize why I had such a visceral reaction to it. I looked at friendships in my own life, and asked the question: what if my best friends left me behind? As an adult, the weight of that question doesn’t quite compare to someone in high school – full of hormones and just beginning one’s journey – but it was in this personal exploration that more questions and feelings began to swell. In high school, your friends are your lifeline. At a time when parents seem out of touch and overbearing, and the school system regiments your every move, your friends become everything. The end of high school is terrifying at that age, especially when your friends are all leaving for different colleges across the country. This separation can feel like the end of days to a teenager, the stakes feel life and death, and this feeling was a fascinating place to begin a horror movie. If your friendships don’t survive the game, neither do you. This simple statement taps into that childhood fear and acts as a narrative metaphor, by making the stakes truly life and death. When one of the best friends goes missing after playing the game, our characters are forced to look inward, mostly through the eyes of our lead character ZOOZA as she wrestles with her fear of abandonment and resentment of her absent father. She must confront the monster within or no one will survive the game. The Friendship Game is built to keep the audience guessing and make them active participants in the journey, so it was important to keep ZOOZA as the emotional core so they don’t get lost along the way. As a film that explores the intangible madness of the teenage friendship, the characters had to lead the narrative, with the Friendship Game becoming this mythical mechanism that allowed them to do so; in a twisted Lovecraftian kind of way of course.“

What did you think of The Friendship Game trailer? Will you be watching this movie in November? Let us know by leaving a comment below. I’ll definitely be watching it. I was already sold before watching the trailer, but after watching it I’m glad to see the movie looks better and darker than I was expecting.