Exclusive: HYPERNORMALIZED, New Horror Thriller From Justin McConnell Wraps Production
You read it here first. Our friend, Justin McConnell (Lifechanger, Clapboard Jungle), has wrapped production on a new horror thriller called Hypernormalized.
Plagued by intense nightmares and a relentless otherworldly entity, one isolated man’s sanity begins to slip. As he works to understand the source of his torment, he begins to suspect his overseas online friend group is experiencing the same occurrences.
From their home base here in Toronto, McConnell coordinated an international production. It was remotely supervised by themselves, utilizing the directing skills of other friends located in the U.S., Japan, and Spain. Their unit director team included once-local directors Tricia Lee and Darryl Shaw, as well as Justin's long-time friend and associate, Adam Mason.
It is good to get this news from our friend, since they had grown comfortable in their own company and routines since the boom boom times. We had wondered at times if and when they were ever going to get back into directing. We have our answer; we know the answer to 'how' as well, but we will have to wait for the finished product to see 'how much'.
It is an ambitious jump back into the craft, with a whole lot of trust in others to help McConnell see this project come to light.
The internationally produced horror/thriller HYPERNORMALIZED has just wrapped principal photography. Directed by Justin McConnell (Lifechanger, Clapboard Jungle), the independently produced feature was shot between four cities: Toronto, Tokyo, Málaga (Spain), and Los Angeles, with characters and performers located across the globe. The film was produced utilizing crews based in each location, led by unit directors in Los Angeles (Tricia Lee, Silent Retreat, Sum Moments), Spain (Adam Mason, Songbird, The Ladder), and Tokyo (Darryl Shaw, The Hounds of Asterisk, Android Re-Enactment), with all location shoots outside Toronto remotely supervised by McConnell.In HYPERNORMALIZED, “Plagued by intense nightmares and a relentless otherworldly entity, one isolated man’s sanity begins to slip. As he works to understand the source of his torment, he begins to suspect his overseas online friend group is experiencing the same occurrences.” The film mixes multiple styles to tell the genre-bending story, mixing a traditionally shot narrative feature with various forms of modern media platforms, including VRChat, the largest VR-based social platform in the world.The cast includes Robert LaSardo (Nip/Tuck), Michelle D’Alessandro Hatt (Lifechanger), Victor Miró (7:11 Cuarzo), Hiroshi Watanabe (Letters from Iwo Jima), Matt Farley (Local Legends), Duane Whitaker (Pulp Fiction), Caryn Richman (The Puppetman), Adrian Patterson, Adam Buller, and McConnell himself.“When approaching this project, I wanted to tell a globally-minded story steeped in the existential dread we all experience to varying degrees. It’s a very art-collective approach to production, in a lot of ways. It just happens the collective is located all across the globe, and new tech allows us to work like we were in the same room.” Stated McConnell.The film was produced by Unstable Ground in association with Federgreen Entertainment. McConnell produced, with executive producer Avi Federgreen (Deathstalker, Home Free), and associate producers Robert LaSardo, Michelle D’Alessandro Hatt, and Dave McGrath. Practical make-up effects were handled by David Scott (Backcountry, Dawn of the Dead, In The Tall Grass, Lifechanger).
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