It has pulverized audiences at horror festivals over the last year or so, winning awards along the way, and now SWEATSHOP, director Stacy Davidson’s “smasher movie,” is getting ready to assault viewers on DVD sometime in early 2011.

Fango got the early word that Synapse Films will do the disc honors (with lotsa extras) for the Texas-lensed gorefest, scripted by Ted Geoghegan and Davidson. “SWEATSHOP shined above many of the indie submissions we receive,” says Synapse president Don May Jr. “We couldn’t help but fall in love with the production quality, gore and the fun factor of the film.” Adds Synapse CEO Jerry Chandler, “We are proud to continue our desire to bring the finest of independent horror to the viewing audience. SWEATSHOP is a proud addition to the line. This movie exemplifies what creativity and hard work can achieve, and should stand as a shining example to all young filmmakers.”

Davidson is equally excited about the partnership: “One of the many great things about Synapse is that they don’t release stacks of movies every month,” he says. “They’re very selective in their library and I’m confident that SWEATSHOP will get the love and attention it needs. SWEATSHOP has shown signs of becoming a breakaway indie hit, and we believe Synapse recognizes this and will really take the ball and run with it.”

SWEATSHOP is set in an abandoned warehouse where a group of young people arrive to set up a late-night rave, only to find it’s not so abandoned after all—a hulking killer known as The Beast lurks within its rooms, wielding an enormous hammer. The film combines stylized cinematography with extreme gore and copious nudity, and Geoghegan, who also produced the film with Laura Bryant, says, “Modern slasher rehashes have gotten stale. With SWEATSHOP, our goal was to create a film that pays tribute to the genre that created it while offering up something people haven’t seen a million times before.”

Coincidentally, a number of SWEATSHOP’s cast and crew also worked on CLOSET SPACE, which just got announced for DVD release too (see item here), including actors Peyton Wetzel, Melanie Donihoo and Danielle Jones, makeup FX artist Marcus Koch and Davidson himself (who did SPACE’s visual FX and 2nd-unit helming). SWEATSHOP’s ensemble additionally includes Ashley Kay, Julin, Brent Himes, Naika Malveaux, Krystal Freeman, Vincent Guerrero, Jeremy Sumrall (as the Beast), ViVi Sterling and (full disclosure) yours truly in a small role; Koch was joined on the makeup FX (which won a prize at last year’s New York, City Horror Film Festival) by Kristi Boul and Mike Oliver. See the latest trailer below, the movie’s official website here and its Facebook page here. Look for more info on the SWEATSHOP DVD at this site soon, as well as further coverage in the pages of a future Fango.

Sweatshop International Trailer (Screen Media) from Stacy Davidson on Vimeo

 

 

---

News - Latest