Writer-director Robert Mond’s debut feature The Subjects will be released worldwide on multiple platforms in October.
The thriller’s novel concept revolves around eight misfits who are paid handsomely to take part in a secret trial to test a new drug. Locked in a room for eight hours, each person discovers he or she suddenly has assumed superhuman powers.
So the tension mounts as each is forced to make a choice: to become a superhero or a supervillain.
Shot in Melbourne last July/August, the film was financed by David Redman’s Instinct Entertainment, a consortium of investors, the producer offset and the UK’s Head Gear, which cash-flowed the offset.
Instinct Distribution is releasing the film worldwide in October, with launches planned at Comic-Con in Sydney and New York and other Comic-Con events around the world.
Mond, who has written and directed numerous short films, produced with Redman, Josef Gatti and Dean Murphy.
Cinema release will follow the Comic-Con screenings, with bookings to be arranged via on-demand platform Tugg in Australia. Redman tells IF he is talking about similar arrangements with Tugg in the US and the UK’s Our Screen.
US-based Distribber will facilitate deals with VOD platforms and Redman is discussing a revenue-sharing deal with Vimeo.
The characters are a mix of Australians, Americans and Brits and the film is set in Las Vegas, all designed, Redman says, to make the film “borderless.”
The cast includes Pip Mushin, Spencer McLaren, Emily Wheaton, Charlotte Nicdao, Frank Magree, Tosh Greenslade, Paul Henri, Katherine Innes and Paul O’Brien.
The visual effects are being created in-house at Instinct Entertainment by a team led by VFX supervisors Ralph Moser and John Leonard.
Redman was keen to work with Mond after seeing his short Love’s End, the saga of a couple who turn into Zombies while they are breaking up.
Mond got the idea for The Subjects when he visited San Diego Comic-Con in 2012. He said, “As I sat in the famous Hall H listening to big studios talk about their next superhero film I had a thought. These films all had big budgets, big actors and big special effects.
"They all told the story of the great triumph of superheroes over evil. I started to wonder, if I was given those powers, just a regular guy, would I too become incredible? Would I use my powers for good? And would I actually be capable enough to save the world?”
Developing and honing the script, he aimed to strike a balance between light comedy, dark comedy and thriller.
“I never wanted this to be a one-room thriller like Buried, Cube or Saw,” he said. “It was important to me that it took a breath from time to time and allowed the viewer to enjoy the absurdity of these characters dealing with superpowers. The Subjects ends up being a mix of thriller, comedy and sci-fi.”
For more information visit http://www.TheSubjectsMovie.com