[press release from Tsuki]
CRUSH, a supernatural thriller created and written by John Soto and co-directed by John Soto and Jeff Gerritsen with Deidre Kitcher as Producer, has been picked up for national theatrical release by co-distributers’ Filmscope Entertainment and Odin’s Eye Entertainment in the first half of 2009.
CRUSH stars Chris Egan (NBC series KINGS: 2009, Eragon, Resident Evil 3 – Extinction, Virgin Territory), Emma Lung (The Jammed, Triangle, The Boys are Back, House of Wax, Entourage: 2008) and Brooke Harman (Till Human Voices Wake Us, The Secret Life of Us, Ned Kelly).
Soto and Gerritsen have created a must-see film for teens and young adults, a suspenseful thriller which flirts with the supernatural. CRUSH follows the story of University student Julian (Chris Egan) who after being seduced by the mysterious and beautiful Anna (Emma Lung), finds his life unravelling in a series of increasingly strange and dangerous events as her infatuation with him turns deadly.
Crush could be best described as a teen Fatal Attraction meets The Haunting. Combine this with the lure of former ‘Home and Away’ star, Chris Egan whose major television series, KINGS for US network NBC, is set to be as big as HEROES (replacing ER from 15 March 2009) and AFI award nominee Emma Lung and you’ll start to understand why CRUSH is one of the most anticipated teen films this season.
The CRUSH trailer has already become a favourite attraction on You Tube where it recently ranked in the Top 5 in the WORLD (out of 17,200 clips) for all countries under the You Tube search ‘Movie Trailers 2009 Official’. The CRUSH trailer has had over 100,000 views in three weeks and has won the following awards; #1 Rated Movie Trailer – Films and Animation, January 2009, Australia. #1 Viewed Movie Trailer – Films and Animation, January 2009, Australia. #2 Favourited Movie Trailer – Films and Animation, January 2009, Australia.
Music in the film features some of Australia’s coolest bands as well as international acts including Silverchair, Papa Roach, Little Birdy, Codrazine, Something for Kate, Pacifier and The Sleepy Jackson. Music has been composed by Jamie Blanks (Director of Urban Legend and Director/ Composer of Storm Warning). CRUSH was filmed in Perth and edited by one of Australia’s most exciting new Editors Jason Ballantine (Prom Night, Rogue, Wolf Creek).
Despite the ‘financial crisis’ CRUSH has recently sold in various international territories at Berlin FM (Feb, 2009) including Indonesia, Malaysia and the Middle East with negotiations underway for sales in a further five minor and three major territories. The distributors for those territories intend releasing Crush theatrically in their countries in mid 2009.
CRUSH was privately financed with no government support. The film is rated M and has a running time of approximately 85mins. CRUSH is the directorial debut for Soto and Gerritsen.