Streaming culture, meet your villain.
Dead Media opens in select theaters today, the feature debut of Minneapolis comedian-turned-filmmaker Joseph Scrimshaw, who wrote and directed. The premise is gloriously simple. Maggie (Sammi-Jack Martincak) wants a quiet movie night with friends. Her lonely Gen X uncle Heppy (Sam Landman) shows up with a physical DVD of The Lurcher, a long-lost ’90s horror cult classic. The disc is haunted. The creatures inside the film start materializing in the living room. Movie night is officially cancelled.
The cast also includes James Urbaniak, Jessica Fenton, Anna Sundberg, Bill Corbett, and Gael Palen. Joe Lynch executive produces. It runs 99 minutes and hits VOD on July 28.
Reviews are mixed but affectionate. The Pitch called it enthusiastic and infectious despite some unevenness. Projected Figures placed it alongside The Final Girls and Beyond the Gates as an amiably postmodern love letter to horror nostalgia. Scrimshaw describes it himself as “an exciting homage to great horror, cult classics, and the bygone era of DVD bonus features.”
Imperfect? Sure. Original? Absolutely. In a summer of franchise horror, that matters.
Dead Media is in select theaters today. VOD follows July 28.
