Skeptic, The: Supernatural Thriller

April 21, 2009 – IFC Films announced today it has acquired U.S.distribution rights to the THE SKEPTIC, a supernatural thriller about a man who inherits a haunted house.   Directed by Tennyson Bardwell, the acclaimed director of DORIAN BLUES, THE SKEPTIC stars Tim Daly (ABC’s “Private Practice), Tom Arnold (“True Lies”) and Zoe Saldana (“Star Trek”) and is produced by Mary-Beth Taylor, Isen Robbins and Aimee Schoof.   
 
The deal for THE SKEPTIC was negotiated by Arianna Bocco for IFC Films with Lawrence Silverstein and Alex Barder at Strategic. 
 
Following the mysterious death of his aunt, power lawyer Bryan Becket (Tim Daly) moves into the elderly woman’s supposedly haunted Victorian mansion.  A die hard skeptic, he dismisses one eerie incident after another, until the haunting turns so personal and vicious, Becket’s cool, unemotional veneer begins to unravel. Whispers in the night, things he sees in the darkness, clues of a horrible secret, turn our rationalist into a terrified and reluctant seeker. A seeker of a truth so unspeakable it could destroy him. And the mystery, always just out of reach down the darkened hall, is not fully revealed until the film’s final moments. And even then, it leaves a tantalizing question.
 
Jonathan Sehring, President of IFC Entertainment said, “THE SKEPTIC is a chilling and suspenseful supernatural thriller with superb direction by Tennyson Bardwell and great performances by Tim Daly and the rest of the cast.   This acquisition highlights IFC’s commitment to bringU.S.audiences the best in horror/genre cinema.”
 
Tennyson Bardwell said, “”Making an indie is always a challenging journey and you can only hope that the end of the journey finds you in the hands of a company like. IFC where Jonathan Sehring has proven a true champion of independent film.”
 
IFC Films is releasing THE SKEPTIC via its IFC in Theaters platform.  Beginning April 29ththe film will be available nationwide on-demand for three months.  In addition, the film will have exclusive weeklong theatrical engagements in New York(May 1stat the IFCCenter);Albany(May 8that The Spectrum) and Los Angeles(May 15that the Music Hall).
 
THE SKEPTIC is one of several films IFC Films will be releasing over the coming months from the vanguard of horror, science fiction, erotic arthouse and action cinema.  Building on their recent success with acclaimed genre fare such as Larry Fessenden’s THE LAST WINTER starring Ron Perelman and Jonathan Miller’s BLACK SHEEP, IFC Films will release more than 30 IFC Midnight titles in 2009 across its theatrical and on-demand platform, giving exposure to films that have premiered at major festivals such as Cannes, Toronto, Sundance, AFI, SXSW and more.   The company recently announced theatrical release dates for two of its highly anticipated horror films, the Toronto Film Festival favorite PONTYPOOL (May 29th) and the Sundance hit DEAD SNOW (June 12th), and unveiled its complete IFC Midnight on-demand lineup for April, May and June with a range of new titles including: the crime thriller THE CHASER; the Cannes Film Festival favorite FRONTIER OF DAWN; the erotic drama A’LAVENTURE; the horror-thriller HUSH; the psychological thriller DARK MIRROR; the gore-fest CADAVER; the psychological thriller FEAR ME NOT and the erotically charged DIARY OF A NYMPHOMANIAC.