By MICHAEL GINGOLD
A different kind of Christmastime terror is unleashed in I TRAPPED THE DEVIL, and it’ll be hitting screens long before December this year. Read on for the full details.
IFC Midnight has announced that it has picked up U.S. rights to I TRAPPED THE DEVIL, originally known as A MAN IN THE DARK (fun fact: That was also DON’T BREATHE’s original title). The film will be released to select theaters and on VOD April 26. Feature first-timer Josh Lobo wrote and directed DEVIL, and produced it with Spence Nicholson, Rowan Russell and Scott Weinberg; Chris Sullivan, Jocelin Donahue (THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL), AJ Bowen (THE SACRAMENT), Susan Burke and Scott Poythress (THE SIGNAL) star. The synopsis: “It’s the Christmas season, a time of peace and joy with friends and family. But when Matt [Bowen] and his wife Karen [Burke] show up unannounced at the home of his estranged brother Steve [Poythress] to celebrate the holidays, they are instead greeted with a disturbing surprise. Held hostage in Steve’s basement is a man—though not just any man. Or perhaps not a man at all. Steve believes that he has captured the human manifestation of the devil himself. As shock and skepticism turn to fear and paranoia, Matt and Karen find themselves caught in a spiral of terror and doubt. Could this mysterious stranger really be evil incarnate? Or is Steve dangerously unhinged?”
“IFC have really been at the forefront in the resurgence of thoughtful, filmmaker-driven genre films,” Lobo says. “I can’t think of a better home for my film.”