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Acclaimed indie horrors “DEAD DICKS” and “DEAD ONES” get distribution

Thursday, March 19, 2020 | News

By MICHAEL GINGOLD

A pair of festival favorites with the RUE MORGUE seal of approval will soon be finding their way to wider audiences.

Artsploitation Films has announced its acquisition of Chris Bavota and Lee Paula Springer’s DEAD DICKS (pictured) and Jeremy Kasten’s THE DEAD ONES, with plans to release both on Blu-ray/DVD and VOD/streaming this summer. DEAD DICKS, which won the Audience Award for Best Canadian Feature at last year’s Fantasia International Film Festival, was also scripted by Bavota and Springer and stars Heston Horwin, Jillian Harris and Matt Keyes (the latter also produced with Bavota, Springer and Albert I. Melamed). The synopsis: “When Becca [Harris] receives a series of panicked messages from her older brother Richie [Horwin], she rushes over to check on him. Following a seemingly successful suicide attempt, Richie, who suffers from mental illness, has discovered what appears to be his own dead body. And soon, they find several more dead versions of Richie and together, try to figure out how he is being reborn each time he takes his own life and is it all caused by that pulsating wall orifice in his bedroom?” See our review of DEAD DICKS here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN0D2dVeMh0

THE DEAD ONES, written by Zach Chassler, stars Sarah Rose Harper, Brandon Thane Wilson, Katie Foster and Torey Garza. The synopsis: “For four outcast teens, summer detention means being assigned to clean their high school after a horrific incident. But they are not alone; a macabre gang wearing guises of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse—Famine, Pestilence, War and Death—has locked them inside and is hunting them through the school’s ravaged hallways. As the four students battle to survive, each must confront the supernatural echoes of past traumas they have struggled to forget—and may be condemned to relive.” Our review of DEAD ONES can be found here. Stay tuned for further details on both releases!

Michael Gingold
Michael Gingold (RUE MORGUE's Head Writer) has been covering the world of horror cinema for over three decades, and in addition to his work for RUE MORGUE, he has been a longtime writer and editor for FANGORIA magazine and its website. He has also written for BIRTH.MOVIES.DEATH, SCREAM, IndieWire.com, TIME OUT, DELIRIUM, MOVIEMAKER and others. He is the author of the AD NAUSEAM books (1984 Publishing) and THE FRIGHTFEST GUIDE TO MONSTER MOVIES (FAB Press), and he has contributed documentaries, featurettes and liner notes to numerous Blu-rays, including the award-winning feature-length doc TWISTED TALE: THE UNMAKING OF "SPOOKIES" (Vinegar Syndrome).