International sales company Black Mandala, alongside its independent banner Red Owl, is presenting a diverse portfolio of eight genre features at the upcoming American Film Market. Based in New Zealand, the sales agent has crafted a lineup that spans horror, dark fantasy, psychological thrillers, and supernatural stories. Industry buyers and film festival programmers looking for fresh international horror titles will find a broad selection of unique narratives on offer within this movie slate heading to the industry trade event.
The primary slate handled by Black Mandala features four distinct features. Stephen Roach directs "Rise of the Rats," a British horror movie following a young punk named Kayla Thornhill who travels with her estranged father to his childhood village of Ditchfield, where an infestation of rats conceals a sinister Rat-Man unleashing a deadly swarm. In Remington Smith's "Landlord," a Black bounty hunter protecting a stolen briefcase must team up with a young boy to fight off a vampire landlord and his human cohorts. Meanwhile, "Haunted," co-directed by Myles McEwen and Ripley Stevens, chronicles missing teenagers and supernatural forces targeting a recluse in a remote Australian town following an unexplained event in 2003. Rounding out the lineup is Oliver Hollingdale’s dark fantasy "The Realm of Eldervin: Gallowmere," which follows a mage leading a group across a bleak world to trace a dark magical illness, featuring voiceover narration by Jason Flemyng.
Operating under the Red Owl division, four additional independent features cater to specialized suspense and horror niches. Lani Castle and Jon Cohen’s psychological thriller "The Rules of the Game" sees a brilliant chess player forced to play a dark-web stream where live human hostages represent chess pieces. Chad Costen's horror-comedy "Mister Sandman" follows former summer camp outcasts confronting grief and trauma at an abandoned campground. Daniel Lerch directs "Saturnalia," an homage to classic 1979 Italian giallo centered on a mysterious school where students disappear. Lastly, Tim Connery’s anthology "The Driftless" explores Midwest folklore across four eerie tales introduced by an antique dealer. Representatives from both banners will engage distributors, buyers, and festival organizers throughout the market.
