Image Picks Up “Mischief Night”

Image Entertainment has picked up the North American rights to “Mischief Night”. The film, produced by Ruthless Pictures is based on a pitch by Jesse Baget and Eric D. Wilkinson. The film has entered the production phase and will be helmed by Director Richard Schenkman. “Mischief Night” tells the story of a terrifying home invasion on the eve of Halloween. Young Emily Walton (Noell Coet), who has suffered from psychosomatic blindness ever since a car accident that took her mother’s life, must summon every instinct at her disposal to protect herself and her loved ones from a mysterious intruder.

The cast includes veteran actor Daniel Hugh Kelly (Cujo, Someone To Watch Over Me, The Good Son), as well as Ally Walker (“Sons of Anarchy,” While You Were Sleeping, Universal Soldier), Noell Coet (Cowgirls n’ Angels, 5 Time Champion), Charlie O’Connell (Dude, Where’s My Car, Cruel Intentions, “Sliders”), Erica Leerhsen (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Anything Else), Richard Riehle (Bridesmaids, A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas), Stephanie Erb (The Ring, Starship Troopers) and Ian Bamberg (Second Time Around, Warrior Road).

Richard Schenkman states that “Mischief Night” is not the typical genre movie. “This is not a horror film,” he said. “While I enjoy pictures like Scream, I think this movie has more in common with high-tension, claustrophobic thrillers like The Strangers, the French movie Them, and even the classic Wait Until Dark. While there is violence in the film, my plan is to minimize the gore and keep the effects realistic, as opposed to the stylized mayhem we see in other pictures.”  Wilkinson agrees. “I think people forget that movies like John Carpenter’s Halloween have very little blood or gore in the film. Eventually, that franchise embraced the blood and guts, but the original was all about the suspense, and I applaud Richard’s ‘less is more’ approach.”