Akiva Goldsman’s horror-thriller ‘Stephanie’ to premiere at Overlook Film Festival

The Timberline Lodge in Mt. Hood National Forest, Oregon is best known for playing the exterior of the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic masterpiece The Shining. This month it opens its doors to celebrate cinema, with the Overlook Film Festival taking place behind those creepy doors. Gee, we wonder how they came up with the name.

It’s shaping up to be an exciting festival, the organizers having already curated a program of 39 films, including 22 features and 17 shorts from a total of 16 countries. Now they’ve secured a whopper in the form of upcoming horror-thriller Stephanie.

Directed by Akiva Goldsman, Stephanie was written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, who previously collaborated on SiREN and Super Dark Times. It’s said to be set in the near future, as a young girl is left alone in her remote home, whilst a dark supernatural force looms in the background.

Starring Frank Grillo (Blumhouse’s The Purge franchise), Anna Torv (Fringe) and Shree Crooks (American Horror Story), Stephanie marks Goldman’s second partnership with Blumhouse after having served as executive producer on the Paranormal Activity franchise.

Goldsman is best known for his work on I, Robot, The Da Vinci Code, A Beautiful Mind, and Winter’s Tale starring Colin Farrell and Jessica Brown Findlay, which he directed and adapted from the novel by Mark Helprin.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to have Stephanie as the opening night film on this first year of the festival,” said festival co-director Michael Lerman. “With this film, Akiva Goldsman has crafted a horror-thriller that’s going to take audiences to unexpected places. We’re proud to be its site of premiere.”

Following the world-first premiere of Stephanie at the Overlook Film Festival, Goldsman and Jason Blum will participate in a Q&A session before screening their favourite Paranormal Activity film to attendees.

Blumhouse Productions will also be awarded the Visionary Award during a ceremony for their continued work and effort to support directors like Goldsman on “unique, micro-budget genre films.” The festival organizers said the award was established to “honor a contemporary horror figure or company elevating the genre, while fostering the community by providing opportunities for new talent to thrive.”