We are always here for some gay content involving Sense 8’s Brian J. Smith, and the upcoming Matt Fifer (Cicada) horror film, Haze, looks like it’s about to turn us on and freak us out at the same time.
Also starring Cole Doman (Mutt) as a young journalist who returns home to investigate mysterious deaths in a psychiatric center, the film is said to be a “spooky sexy mental movie,” according to Instagram posts by both Doman and Smith.
Produced by Shudder, the “evocative psychological thriller-drama” will make its debut at the NewFest Pride event in New York on May 31 before its wide release aimed for later this year.
According to the description from the NewFest Pride event page, Fifer’s inspiration for the film came from the movies he used to watch with his grandma. It describes Haze as a film that “blurs the lines between reality and imagination as the protagonist peels back the mysterious layers of what may or may not have transpired, prompting the audience to ponder ‘who or what is really hiding beneath the surface’?”
Okay, we’re listening.
Shudder
“When so much of the industry is playing it safe, Shudder continues to be fearless in exploring niche genres and empowering queer filmmakers — I’m lucky to be working with them and honored to have this film make its world premiere at NewFest,” Fifer said in a statement. “It was made with a small but fierce crew of collaborators, working with limited resources and a lot of love.”
According to an article from Deadline in 2021 and a subsequent Instagram post from Fifer, the film was also originally titled Treatment and finished its initial production three years ago. It adds that Doman’s character returns home after a breakup and discovers his “town is shrouded in a history of violent homophobic terror.”
Later that year, in November 2021 Bloody Disgusting reported that the film had been obtained by Shudder, who’s still behind the production and release now.
When, where, and why the name change and production shift happened is still uncertain, as well as what’s taken so long to actually release the film, but we know we’re here for whatever this "terrifying" ride has planned for us.
The NewFest Pride event will also see Smith in his own directorial debut for his documentary, A House Is Not A Disco, about the Fire Island Pines “homo-normative” community.
