Saban Films Acquires Teen Horror Slasher with a Social Media Twist 'Initiation'!

The game is over...

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...Saban Films has announced today that they've acquired North American rights to director John Berardo’s (The Labyrinth) new film Initiation, which was selected for a world premiere in the Midnighters section at SXSW under its original title Dembanger!

In Initiation, inspired by Berardo's short film Dembanger and written by Berardo, Brian Frager and Lindsay LaVanchy:

"Whiton University unravels the night a star-athlete is murdered in the wake of a buried assault allegation, kicking off a spree of social media-linked slayings. As a masked killer targets students across campus, a trio of sorority sisters race to uncover the truth behind the school's hidden secrets -- and the horrifying meaning of an exclamation point – before they become the killer’s next victims."

 The film is described as an "edgy slasger" in the teen horror vein, which Berardo says “pays homage to the nineties horror classics I grew up on, but with a modern take for today’s socially conscious generation." 

The film stars Lochlyn Munro (The Predator, “Riverdale”), Isabella Gomez (“One Day at a Time”), Jon Huertas (“This is Us”), Froy Gutierrez (“Teen Wolf”), Bart Johnson (High School Musical), and Yancy Butler (Kick-Ass, Drop Zone)

Shatterproof Films’ Berardo and Frager produced along with LaVanchy, J.P. Castel, Jon Huertas, Stephanie Stanziano, Artisan Post Group and Malsons Media.

XYZ Films, who took International rights to Initiation, is introducing the film to international distributors during the Cannes virtual market.

By Matt Konopka