Dark Star Pictures Picks Up ‘Buzzheart’ from ‘The Last House on the Left’ Remake Director

Dark Star Pictures has secured North American rights to Buzzheart, the latest psychological thriller from Dennis Iliadis (The Last House on the Left 2009), Variety reports.

Set in Iliadis’ native Greece during the 1990s, the film stars Evelina Papoulia, Giorgos Liantos, Konstantina Messini, and Claudio Kaya.

The story follows two parents whose deep concern for their fragile daughter drives them to subject her boyfriend to shockingly brutal tests, pushing the limits of love, trust, and sanity.

“I wanted to use all the elements I’ve learned in my American films, which were getting a bit too ‘standard horrorish,’ and create something deeper and more human,” Iliadis told Eye for Film. “Usually you have people pretending they are normal and they turn out to be weird, but here the people are weird and you discover their humanity at the very end.”

Produced by Greece’s Panoply Films and Neda Films, alongside U.S.-based Twin7, Buzzheart premiered in competition at last year’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

The film is set for international release: in France via B-Rated International, in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland via Busch Media, in Brazil via Belas Arte Group, and in Spanish-speaking Latin America via Dexterity Entertainment.