Roxanne Benjamin’s Feature Directorial Debut Acquired by Magnet Releasing
Writer-director Roxanne Benjamin’s first feature film has found a home. Variety confirms that Magnet Releasing, Magnolia Pictures’ genre arm, has obtained worldwide rights to Benjamin’s “Body at Brighton Rock.” The survival thriller is currently in production and will receive a theatrical release later this year.
Penned by Benjamin, “Body at Brighton Rock” is about a rookie park ranger (Karina Fontes, “Southbound”) who must spend the night watching over a potential crime scene on a secluded mountain trail. Emily Althaus (“Orange Is the New Black”), Miranda Bailey (“Diary of a Teenage Girl”), and Susan Burke (“Southbound”) co-star. Benjamin is among the film’s producers.
“Roxanne has written a truly inventive, edge-of-your-seat script with ‘Body at Brighton Rock,’” stated Magnolia prez Eamonn Bowles. “When we read it, we leapt at the opportunity to work with her again.”
Benjamin previously wrote and directed segments of horror anthology films “XX” and “Southbound.” She’s also served as producer on those films as well as the “V/H/S” franchise, “Faults,” and “The Devil’s Candy.”
“I ultimately feel horror films are made for kids because that’s when our imagination is so fertile, that anything that goes bump in the night is the worst thing,” Benjamin has said. “I’m still that way but that’s probably from years of watching horror and reading horror scripts, so there’s always someone behind the curtain and the door is always left unlocked and someone is under the bed. We just try to pass that along because misery loves company, so to speak.”
