‘Terrifier’s Jenna Kanell Leads ‘Faceless After Dark’ Meta Horror Movie
Jenna Kanell, star of Terrifier, who made a memorable splash earlier this year in Universal’s horror-comedy Renfield, is taking matters into her own (bloody) hands this fall, when she returns to the screen in the new horror film Faceless After Dark, a deviously meta tale about a down-on-her-luck scream queen stalked by an unhinged, murderous fan.
If that plot sounds a little too close to home, Kanell agrees. “After over a decade in the business,” she said, “many aspects of the script – the stalking, the non-consensual use of my likeness for profit, expectations of compliance in dangerous or inappropriate circumstances – were plucked right out of reality.”
The Terrifier franchise vaulted from cult status to a worldw phenomenon last year with the release of Terrifer 2, a surprise hit that grossed over $10 million at the box office against a $250,000 budget. The sequel’s success has led to a theatrical re-release of the original film, which will appear on 700+ screens nationwide next week.
Faceless After Dark, which is also co-written and produced by Kanell, doubles as a shameless tribute to horror film fans, particularly those devoted enough to attend the myriad of horror conventions spattered across the U.S. each year. In fact, the fictional “Slasher Con” in the film borrows (steals?) its backdrop from several highly-attended genre conventions in the Southeast.
“[At] the very first convention I ever attended, a young woman was crying by my table,” says Kanell. “I asked her why, and she said, ‘This is the only place I belong.’ It resonated with me, and I imagine with many others. We find catharsis in the horror genre, and community in the world around it.”
The supporting cast includes Danny Kang (Tales from the Loop, Insatiable), Danielle Lyn (Creepshow), Michael Aaron Milligan (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Apple TV’s Black Bird, Ozark), and Kathrine Barnes (Queer as Folk, Moonshot, Candy) along with appearances by Jason MacDonald (The Man From Toronto, Welcome to Flatch) and Catherine Corcoran (Jenna’s Terrifier co-star (watch our interview here), also of Troma fame). It also features a whiplash-inducing girl punk/queercore soundtrack that includes Destroy Boys, Nihilist Cheerleader, Taco Mouth, and more.
Faceless After Dark will world premiere at FrightFest on Friday, August 25th, at Cineworld Leicester Square in London, U.K. Tickets go on sale this Saturday, July 15th, here.
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