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Marcus Slabine, director of The Dark Offerings (2021), has released the trailer for his new movie Sundown. The trailer just premiered this past month at Mad Monster Party in Arizona and immediately sparked excitement in the horror community.
You may recognize Slabine’s name. The director has been attached to many recently successful titles, including; Stream, Screamboat, Leprechaun Revenge, and The Pitchfork Retreat. This time in Sundown, Slabine will be sharing the director’s chair with Brian Klingborg. Klingborg additionally penned the script.
The director/writer discussed with Dread Central how the movie was initially inspired by cast member Chris Alexander’s real life experience involving his own family.
“The inspiration for Sundown came from a true story that Chris shared with me about a death in his family. The strange and unsettling events surrounding that experience stayed with me and became the foundation for the screenplay. I wanted to explore the fragile line between love, grief, and horror, and how loss can leave us questioning what’s real. In an incredible twist of fate, we ended up filming Sundown in the very house where the real events took place, adding an authenticity and atmosphere that we could never have recreated anywhere else.”
Is the Monster Grief, or the Demonic?
After Mary’s husband Martin dies following his struggle with dementia, her estranged son Chris returns home. Upon his homecoming he learns his mother believes her late husband is haunting her home. Is this grief, or something more sinister at work? Chris invites his friend and fellow filmmaker Bill (Damian Maffei, Haunt), and medium Clarissa (Emily Sweet, V/H/S 99), to prove what she is experiencing is not the supernatural occurrences she believes them to be.
However, as the trio begin to film they quickly see something else might indeed be at work. Their experiences around the home are starting to support Mary’s claim that something otherworldly is indeed happening in the wake of Martin’s death.
Director Marcus Slabine describes his latest project to iHorror as;
“Sundown is about ordinary people caught in extraordinary terror, grounded by authentic characters and real emotion. We set out to make a found footage film that feels raw, immersive, and proves that passion can outshine budget while pulling from a true story.”
Since the success of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project, many have tried to replicate the magic of the filming style; very few have succeeded. Based on the trailer, Sundown could pull paranormal found footage films out of the cliché rut they have been rotting in for nearly three decades.
The film will be making its worldwide premiere at the Houston Horror Film Fest, as well as be showing at Mad Monster Party North Carolina.
As soon as a theatrical release or streaming date are announced, iHorror will be sure to share it! Until then, enjoy the trailer and tell us what you think!
