Do You Know What Lies ‘Beneath Us?’

by | Nov 12, 2017 | The Horror Review News | 0 comments

Premiere Entertainment Group, a Los Angeles-based sales, production, and financing company, has acquired the worldwide rights to horror-thriller BENEATH US starring Lynn Collins (John Carter, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and James Tupper (HBO’s Pretty Little Lies).

The film follows a group of undocumented workers who are hired by an affluent woman (Collins) and her husband (Tupper) to work on their house, but the workers immediately sense something isn’t right with their employers and become trapped inside the home.

Written and directed by Max Pachman. Mark Mavrothalasitis shares writing credit. Producing are Luis Guerrero and Chris Lemos for Vital Pictures (Armored). Jay Hernandez (Suicide Squad) serves as executive producer and William Knochel as co-executive producer.

Premiere will introduce the social thriller to distributors during the American Film Market (AFM) with a screening at the Laemmle Monica Film Center on November 1st.

“We are excited to be teaming up with Luis and Chris on their unique and original elevated genre film,” says Premiere’s Vice President of Acquisitions Carlos Rincon. “Similar to GET OUT, the film intelligently deals with pertinent social issues in a suspenseful manner.”

AFM has become a reliable launchpad for the mid-budget genre titles Premiere handles. The November market pulls international distributors hunting finished horror, thriller, and elevated genre work that travels well on streaming and physical formats without studio-scale marketing behind it. BENEATH US, with two recognizable leads and a premise that lifts off familiar social-thriller scaffolding, fits the template buyers tend to move on early in the week.

Indie horror has held up better than most independent segments at recent markets. Buyers know how the math works on a tight-budget genre piece with bankable cast, and the demand side has stayed consistent enough that financing has followed. The capital base behind these projects has broadened in the process.

Recent AFMs have drawn money from a wider mix of adjacent entertainment verticals than the indie financing scene used to see: production funds tied to streaming platforms, sports media groups, online casino operators backing entertainment IP, and family offices building genre-focused slates. The result is a steadier appetite for horror and thriller projects even as broader theatrical economics have softened.

For BENEATH US specifically, the GET OUT comparison Rincon draws in his statement is doing real work. That film opened up a lane for thrillers that engage with class, race, and labor as part of the suspense rather than as a footnote, and BENEATH US slots into that frame in a way international buyers can read instantly.

The Laemmle Monica screening on November 1st is timed to give buyers a theatrical look before the bulk of one-on-ones happen later in the week. Horror titles that pair recognizable cast with a marketable hook tend to lock in international territories fastest at AFM, which is where Premiere’s pitch is squarely aimed.

Producers Guerrero and Lemos added, “We’re very excited to partner with Premiere Entertainment Group, and look forward to a successful relationship towards the selling of our film.”

Premiere Entertainment’s President & CEO Elias Axume negotiated the deal with producers Guerrero and Lemos.

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