Shaked Berenson, producer of many genre fan-favorites including Turbo Kind, Jeruzalem, Big Ass Spider! and Tales of Halloween, and previous Dread Central Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Barkan have joined forces to form The Horror Collective, a new domestic acquisition/distribution label.
Housed under Berenson’s Entertainment Squad, the label will be releasing 10-12 diverse, exciting, and terrifying horror films each year.
Kicking things off will be Graham Denman’s thriller Greenlight, which comes out in Q1 2020. The film stars Chase Williamson (John Dies at the End, Beyond the Gates) and Chris Browning ("Westworld", "Bright"). It won the Best Male Performance in a Feature Film and Best Thriller Feature Film awards at Shriekfest LA. This will be followed by Millennium Film’s (The Expendables, Hellboy) The Dare, directed by Giles Alderson and starring Richard Brake (Rob Zombie's 31, Doom, "Game of Thrones"). The Dare was the recipient of the Audience Award at this year’s Popcorn Frights. The third title confirmed for the label is the Irish horror film The Perished, which world premiered at FrightFest 2019. Directed by Paddy Murphy (The Three Don'ts), the film has garnered multiple awards on the festival circuit, including Unrestricted View Film Festival’s Best Actress for Courtney McKeon.
"I want to make a home for genre creators to have their content made and to find the fans that connect to it," Berenson commented to Deadline. "Movies like Big Ass Spider and Tales of Halloween, which, besides being a nostalgic love letter, was also a combined effort and collaboration of the horror community. That’s the attitude and goal I have with The Horror Collective, to keep doing that."
Berenson financed and executive produced Elza Kaphert’s Slaxx, which will be entering the film festival circuit in Q1 2020. Berenson financed, and executive produced the film with his three-time collaborator, Anne-Marie Gélinas of EMA Films, which produced together Turbo Kid and Radius.
"I’ve worked with Shaked over the past few years and we share the same mindset: do what’s right for filmmakers and create a brand that everyone can be proud of," said Barkan also told Deadline. "The Horror Collective is our way of bringing fantastic horror films from around the world to audiences here in North America, all while cultivating and nurturing a community that includes not only the filmmakers but also journalists and fans and everyone else. Everyone is important in a release and we want to prove that."
