What a nice surprise today. Japan-based director Pablo Absento has been working on a new film, a screenlife horror film called Bloat. They've been in New York recently, keeping mum on the details of their trip, but Variety broke word this morning that they were there to start production on their film! They will return to Japan to finish up.
“Bloat” stars McKenzie as a military officer stationed in Turkey while his wife (Novakovic) is vacationing in Japan with their kids. During the stay, their younger son almost drowns in a lake. Soon after the accident, the parents realize that something is wrong with their boy.
Bloat is produced by Bazelevs, the production banner of Screenlife pioneer Timur Bekmambetov (Unfriended, Searching, Profile) and will "adopt Bekmambetov’s signature Screenlife filmmaking technique, in which the story unfolds on the screens of the devices used by the movie’s characters".
This is cool. Absento made waves with their short film Shi, a film praised by the likes of Guillermo Del Toro and Eli Roth. They also directed several episodes at SMA Horror (Smartphone Horror), a new show produced by Takashi Shimizu, creator of the J-horror franchise The Grudge. So yeah, they've been working on their craft in between touring with her short film and now under the tutelage of a master of horror.
In other cool news Fantasia Film Festival’s artistic director Mitch Davis is an associate producer on the flick.