Sean Whalen makes feature directorial debut.
In a deal that closed at the EFM over the weekend revived genre label Anchor Bay Entertainment has acquired North American rights to the horror comedy Crust featuring a cast of genre veterans and Succession star Alan Ruck.
Sean Whalen, who starred in Wes Craven’s The People Under The Stairs, makes his feature directorial debut on the story, and stars as Vegas Winters, a depressed washed-up child actor who fled Tinseltown and owns and lives in a rundown laundromat.
The despondent man’s tears of anguish turn a pile of socks into a loving monster named Crust, who protects Vegas and begins to eliminate his enemies.
The cast includes Daniel Roebuck (Rob Zombie’s The Munsters), Rebekah Kennedy (Two Witches), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Ricky Dean Logan (Back To The Future II and III), with Ruck and Shawntay Dalon (Detroiters).
Whalen wrote Crust with Jim Wald and the producers include Rose (Terrifier 2), Daniel John Kearney (Dark Circles), and Chris Sergi (I’m Just Fu*king With You).
Thomas Zambeck, who heads Anchor Bay with his Umbrelic Entertainment co-founder Brian Katz, negotiated the deal with Sergi and will release Crust later this year.
Zambeck and Katz plan to build Anchor Bay into a stable of genre and cult films as well as remastered catalogue titles after they acquired the trademark of the storied genre label – but not its library – when it became available following Lionsgate’s acquisition of Starz in 2016.
The new pipeline includes documentary Dinner With Leatherface and horror Abruptio featuring puppets.
“As someone who grew up watching Sean on screen, I am thrilled to be in business with him,” said Zambeck “The fact that it’s on a witty and clever film like this – one that displays such a mastery of tone – makes it so much sweeter.
Whalen said of Anchor Bay: “I’ve loved their films for years and they really understood my vision right away. I couldn’t ask for a better partnership.”
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