Upstart Korean production and distribution company INew Entertainment has sold Kim Jin-Won’shorror feature debut The Butcher to Distant Horizon for North American distribution.

With intense and unrelenting visuals, the low-budget film sets up a married couple afflicted by a loan shark and faced with a team of snuff film producers who torture them in a stomach-churningly unpleasant way.

The gory low-budget film – produced by Kim’s Devilgroove Pictures for KW20m ($14,850) – was discovered by the Puchon International Film Festival (PiFan) which gave it a world premiere in the 2007 as the only local film in the hardcore Forbidden Zone section.

Distant Horizon plans to release The Butcher in the US this July.

The film also screened at several other festivals including the Sitges International Film Festival of Catalonia and the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF).

INew Entertainment president and producer Lee Yunjin credits much of the success of this recent deal to “the NYAFF and its organisers who have continuously supported Korean cinema.”

”The Butcher is not the kind of film that can appeal to local audiences, but we picked it up because of the director, and NYAFF helped a lot in this, our first distribution deal,” she said.

The company is also in pre-production for Kim’s next film, Demon (working title) which Lee describes as what will be the world’s first interactive thriller.

“Using Youtube in the US and Korea, the protagonist’s fate can be decided by a single click, and depending on that choice dozens of conclusions and unexpected things can happen,” she explains.

“People can kill or save the character in the space of five minutes. Together they become the deciders of his fate and at the same time follow his destiny. The director is well-versed in the world of online games, and loves horror and gore, so this should be something to see.”

With a completed script, the company is currently is looking for investment and cast.

The company is also in pre-production for Cho Eunhee’s youth drama Quari, which was in project markets and workshops such as the Sundance producer’s lab, IFP, PPP and TPG.