AMC Networks’ premium horror streamer, Shudder, is bolstering with some fine picks for subscribers, all set to launch in June. Joining the line-up will be Cody Calahan’s fifth film to date, Vicious Fun, having already picked up some film festival recognition from this year’s virtual Panic Fest and at Brussels both back in April.
The award-winning horror comedy will land as a Shudder Original premiere on Tuesday, June 29, and the streamer has also released a clip to help set the mood proper. Given it’s about a guy forced to attend group counseling for attendees of the psychotic and murderous kind, I’d say it’s fair to allude to what that mood just might be.
Joel (Evan Marsh, Shazam!), a caustic 1980’s film critic for a national horror magazine, finds himself unwittingly trapped in a self-help group for serial killers. With no other choice, Joel attempts to blend in with his homicidal surroundings or risk becoming the next victim.
Vicious Fun also stars Amber Goldfarb (Appiness), Ari Millen (Orphan Black), Julian Richings (Man of Steel), Robert Maillet (Sherlock Holmes), Sean Baek (Killjoys), David Koechner (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy), Alexa Rose Steele (Jann), Mark Gibson (Exit Humanity), Kristopher Brown (Jib & Jab on a Quest) and John Fray (The Silence).
Calahan directs from a script by James Villeneuve, and is a producer along with Chad Archibald. Nat Abraham, Ira Levy, Michael McGuigan, Peter Bevan, Mariana Sanjurjo, Tomas Yankelevich, Jessica Butland, Denis Coyne, Craig McGillivray and Mark Myers exec produced. Director of photography is Jeff Maher, and the film is edited by Mike Gallant. Original score is by Steph Copeland.
Vicious Fun hails from Black Fawn Films in partnership with Breakthrough Entertainment, Particular Crowd and Radioactive Pictures.
Check out the gallery above, as well as the clip and official trailer below.
