The feature debut of renowned music video director Colin Tilley will be shopped at the upcoming American Film Market.
“Eye for an Eye,” a sinister revenge horror set in the marshlands of Florida and starring Whitney Peak (“Gossip Girl”, “Hocus Pocus 2”), is being launched at the market by HanWay Films, which is repping international rights. WME Independent is handling domestic sales.
Alongside Peak, S. Epatha Merkerson (“Chicago Med,” “Lackawanna Blues”) also stars, while the additional cast includes Golda Rosheuvel (“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story,” “Dune”), Finn Bennett (“True Detective: Night Country,” “Domina”) and newcomer Laken Giles. Casting was handled by Jenny Jue (“Snowpiercer,” “Okja”). The script was penned by writer and artist Elisa Victoria, who specializes in classic folklore and pop ephemera, adapted from one of her own graphic novels “Mr. Sandman.”
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“Eye for an Eye” follows Anna (Peak), a young woman grieving the sudden death of her parents who relocates from New York to a small Florida town to live with the grandmother (Merkerson) she’s never met. Isolated, vulnerable and in need of friends, she finds brief solace in the company of two local teens (Bennett and Giles). But when she becomes complicit in their unforgivable act of violence, she finds herself ensnared by Mr. Sandman – the twisted soul of a tormented child who haunts bullies’ dreams before feasting on their eyeballs when they finally wake.
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The film, which shot last summer in the swamplands of Savannah, Ga., is described as taking a “fantastical, surreal and horror-driven approach to capturing the reality of bullying and exposing the subconscious impacts it can have on those around you.”
Previously announced with the title “Somewhere in Dreamland,” the film was produced by Ley Line Entertainment (“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Green Knight”). Tim Headington, Theresa Steele Page, Rachael Fung and Nate Kamiya serve as producers. David Darby, Lauren Shelton, Elisa Victoria and Susan Kirr are executive producers.
Tilley has has directed more than 300 music videos, including for Kendrick Lamar, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Post Malone, Zendaya, Megan Thee Stallion, 50 Cent and Britney Spears. He was honored at Camerimage in November 2021 for achievement in music videos.
